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The Sheffield culture guide written by in-the-know locals

Migration Matters Festival

Fri. 19 June 2026 — Sat. 27 June 2026

Migration Matters 2024, photo by Smart Banda

In 2007 Sheffield became the UK’s first City of Sanctuary – a place that welcomes asylum-seekers and refugees, that offers a hand to people in need of safety. Held around Refugee Week each June, Migration Matters Festival is a celebration of diversity and the positive impact migration and refugees have in Sheffield.

The festival launched in 2016, the year of the Brexit referendum and Syrian refugee crisis. Each year the Migration Matters programme brings communities together over fantastic, globe-spanning variety of theatre, music, dance, workshops, exhibitions, and more.

Migration Matters returns from 19 to 27 June 2026.

Initial announcements for Migration Matters 2026 include Ghanaian-English afrobeats artist Fuse ODG, Live at the Apollo comedy star Desiree Burch, and a symbolic drama on Palestinian resistance in The Horse of Jenin.

Full lineup to be announced soon.

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Gage Gallery

Sitting above a factory, wonderfully illuminated by skylights, Gage is run by Kelham Island Art Collective (KIAC). It puts on shows by its members, who include painters, sculptors, stone carvers and textile artists, as well as other local artists.

The Actors Works Play Reading: My Sister Wife (film script)

Sat. 6 June 2026

Unit 13, Harland Works, 70 John St, S2 4QU

Read together through Meera Syal's film script for My Sister Wife.

Crossed Wires Festival

Thu. 2 July 2026 — Sun. 5 July 2026

Bringing some of the UK's top names in podcasting from your headphones to the stage. The 2026 lineup includes: Jo Whiley & Zoe Ball, The Blindboy Podcast, Ash Sarkar & Moya Lothian McLean, Zack Polanski, and more. Plus free BBC Sounds fringe events.

Pinball Park

Florence Blanchard's playful, 1000-square-metre floor painting makes Pinball Park come alive with energy. With its pops of colour and fantastic flowing forms, this mural – titled Bounce! – is a truly joyful feature in the Cultural Industries Quarter.