Sheffield’s Migration Matters Festival is celebrating its 10th edition with this year’s event being dedicated to the resilience of people seeking sanctuary. Sam Holland, founder and director of the festival, said: “As we approach ten years of the festival, we are incredibly proud of what we have been able to achieve against all odds. This year’s festival will be a diverse and life-affirming celebration as always. But it is also a testament to the power of human resilience.”
The festival is the biggest Refugee Week event of its kind in the UK. Since launching in 2016, Migration Matters has attracted more than 85,000 people.
Celebrating Brazilian culture
Nine years ago Livia Barreira, who is originally from Brazil, moved to Sheffield from Portugal, where she’d been studying for a masters in communication. She attended the first Migration Matters festival in 2019 after seeing a brochure in Sheffield City Centre. Since then, the audience has grown over the years. “The audience is more diverse now in terms of nationalities, backgrounds and ages,” says Livia.
Due to the coronavirus pandemic, there was no festival in 2020. But in 2021, Livia applied to have an event at the festival including her connections with the Portuguese-speaking community which included food, crafts and live music. The event sold out within two days.
One year later in 2022, Livia took on the role of audience development manager working to promote the event and is now in her fourth year of working with the festival.
Speaking about her role, she said: “Everything I’m doing in Sheffield is to include even more people. Our idea is to have new people coming every year. For many of these communities this is going to be like a welcoming to our city.”
Livia also runs her Instagram account ‘livinginsheffield’ to celebrate and promote global communities.
Migration Matters headliners
International headliners at Migration Matters over the years include Mali musicians Amadou & Mariam in 2024 and Kenyan afro-pop band Sauti Sol in 2023.
Some of the confirmed headliners for this year’s festival include Mercury Award nominated singer-songwriter Nadine Shah and electronic dub band Asian Dub Foundation on their 30th anniversary tour. “This year’s lineup reflects our commitment to diversity, providing a much-needed platform and our bold ambitions for the future,” says Holland.
Speaking about the origins of Migration Matters, Holland said: “We started the festival to champion under-represented communities including refugees, asylum seekers and new migrants. They never give up in the face of adversity and that is what inspires us to keep the festival going, because its spirit is needed now more than ever.”
Sheffield welcomes refugees
Livia spoke about the fact that: “Many people come here escaping wars, abuse and violence in their home countries.
“Claiming asylum is quite a tough process so for this group of people I think it’s really important to have somewhere they can just go and enjoy themselves, celebrate their own cultures, learn from other cultures and make new friends.
“I think you become a better human being after experiencing the Migration Matters festival.”
This year’s festival will run from 20 to 28 June. Tickets for all 2025 events are available via the Migration Matters website.
