Award winning Sheffield arts festival celebrates its tenth edition this year!

Migration Matters Festival is the biggest Refugee Week event of its kind, bringing music, theatre, dance, food and multi-arts events to Sheffield venues over nine days each June. Since launching as a single-venue event in 2016, it has attracted 1,062 artists representing 163 countries, with more than 85,000 people enjoying one of the festival’s events which have featured international headliners such as Mali music megastars Amadou & Mariam in 2024.

This year’s festival will run from Friday 20 - Saturday 28 June. Headliners confirmed so far include Mercury Award nominated singer-songwriter Nadine Shah, pioneering electronic dub legends Asian Dub Foundation on their 30th anniversary tour, and British-Moroccan comedian Fatiha El-Ghorri.

The festival will also include lively opening and closing parties at SADACCA on The Wicker, with the latter featuring Tanzanian musical dynasty members The Zawose Queens.

There will be a fashion show, podcast, community brunch, thought-provoking theatre and art experiences.

This year’s guest curators are rising Zimbabwean-born, Doncaster-raised soul singer Rumbi Tauro and Polish artist Weronika Dwornik. There will also be a strand of fun events aimed at exploring migration with children and families, called Mini Mig Mat.

The festival operates on an ethical ticketing system pioneered by Sheffield based Andro & Eve and offers free tickets to the most financially vulnerable community members over the years, providing 12,350 tickets to date.

Tickets for all 2025 events are now live at migrationmattersfestival.co.uk

Festival passes provide access to all 45+ events and are available on an unwaged or a general pass basis.