Welcoming Cultures Celebration 2025 - Sheffield Museums Trust

A photograph of five people dancing, with their right arms raised in the air, and their left placed on their hips. One person, probably the instructor, is shown at the front right of the image, while the others are slightly unfocused in the background. Four wear colourful skirts made out of a variety of fabrics.

Join us at the Millennium Gallery this spring for a celebration of our magnificent, multicultural city.

Welcoming Cultures Celebration will bring together music, performance, talks and traditional dress from across Sheffield’s diverse communities, as part of this year’s Migration Matters Festival.

Visit stalls from a range of community partners to find out more about cultural heritage in the city, and enjoy a vibrant programme of live music, performances and presentations. You’ll be able to see and buy handmade crafts and traditional items, as we celebrate our city’s incredible cultural diversity.

This event is produced by Welcoming Cultures, with support from Sheffield Museums and Migration Matters Festival.

In Our 4th Year

We proudly honour:
Gypsy, Roma and Traveller History Month • Refugee Week • Windrush 76th Anniversary • Migration, heritage, and the power of belonging. This event is proudly led by communities, for communities – thank you for being part of Welcoming Cultures 2025.

All communities welcome – come to share, learn, and celebrate in the heart of Sheffield.

🎤 Opening Ceremony | 11:30 AM – Community arrival & informal welcome
11:45 AM – Ceremony hosted by Dom Ng, with special guests

Speakers:

Terezia Rostas – Founder, Welcoming Cultures UK
Sam Holland – Founder, Migration Matters Festival
Kirstie Hamilton – Director of Programmes, Sheffield Museums
Sheffield City Council Speakers TBC
Iulian Paraschiv – President, ANR Romania, ADIROM & Council of Europe
Rojan – Pride in Culture Award, Kurdish youth voice

Performances | 12:00 – 3:30 PM

Rosa Sencis Cisneros – Flamenco & Roma storytelling
Julius Obende & Kayefi – Afro-fusion with Yoruba folk and soulful percussion
Sudipta Samanta – Bollywood dance performance
Ruth Marina – Live vocals with Time of Love Band
Charu & Sunrit Culture Group – Indian & East Asian classical dance
Dr. Nupur Chowdhury Robimoy – Bharatanatyam classical Indian performance
Re-Water Hong Kong Youth – Cultural dance performance
Akinseye (Sound Café) – Soulful spoken word & vocals
Cultural Inclusive C.I.C. – Chinese Cultural Dance

Community Cultural Fashion Show | 1:45 PM

An inclusive runway of traditional & modern dress from Roma, African, Indian, Polish, Kurdish, Chinese, and Hong Kong cultures — featuring stallholders, families, and children

🗣️ Poetry & Cultural Stories | From 2:15 PM

Open mic spoken word & poetry/ Cultural demonstrations & dress storytelling
Amjad Refaie – Palestinian spoken word/ Vision 313 Arabic poetry
Delphin – Northern Hate Monitoring Centre – reflections on identity
Romano Jilo – Traditional Roma dance (at 2:30 PM)

🖼 Exhibitions & Digital Installations | All Day

"The Forgotten Soldiers" – Exhibition Vision 313
"Seeing Beyond Our Cultural Outfit" – Cultural Portraits
"We Carry It With Us" – Jeremy Abrahams' migration portraits TBC
"Eugenics" Roma Circus Heroes – Oxford Brookes University
Rosa Sencis Cisneros – Recycling, Dance & Art Exhibition on Roma creativity & sustainability
Cultural Inclusive C.I.C. – Chinese Lunar Year

Stalls, Crafts & Community Tables | All Day

Polish Stall · African Stall (HOPE & H.O.P.E.) · Sunrit Culture Indian Stall Romanian/Roma· ASSIST Sheffield · Re-Water · (C+G Art) · Sheffield–Nablus Twinning Gr Palestinian· Anita Koko – Visual Arts · Refugee Council · Adira – Black Mental Health Support · SAVTE · Ewa – Green Light Project · Kalyna Art – Ukrainian Stall · Rojan – Kurdish Stall · Cultural Inclusive C.I.C. · Diabetes Awareness Stall · Vision 313 – Forgotten Soldiers Exhibition & Stall · Chechen Stall. More stalls and surprises.

♿ Accessibility & Info