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TASTE

  • St Andrews United Reform Church Hall 80 Upper Hanover Street Sheffield, England, S3 7RQ United Kingdom (map)

Taste

Carlota Matos with Open Kitchen Social Club and collaborators

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Date: Thur 25 June

Time: 17:00 - 18:30

Venue: St Andrews United Reform Church Hall

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ABOUT THE EVENT

Step into TASTE, a multi-sensory, participatory performance celebrating food, culture, and community.

Audiences move freely between stations to explore spices, fruits, sound-making, embroidery, and playful movement, contributing to a shared creative experience. Expect live music played with kitchen utensils, a collective embroidered tablecloth, and gestures that gradually bring the space to life.

Largely non-verbal and designed for all ages and abilities, TASTE invites participants to shape the performance together, celebrating the tastes, traditions, and rhythms that migrant communities bring to Sheffield.

​“It is very rare to have a space for people only to connect, especially with anything other than words. So it was very soothing and eye-opening to experience.”
- Audience Feedback

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Event Format & Information

  • 16:45 - Doors open

  • 16:45-17:00 - Attendees arrive

  • 17:00-18:30 - Main event happens

  • 18:30 - Event ends, although attendees can leave at any time

On arrival, participants will be welcomed into the space and introduced to the different activity areas. The event is structured as a guided participatory workshop-performance, where facilitators gently lead participants through a series of shared activities across the space.

  • Participants will be invited to engage with different stations (such as sound-making, embroidery, sensory tables, and food-related elements) in a facilitated sequence, with moments of group focus and collective activity. 

  • Participation is always optional, and people are also welcome to observe if they prefer.

  • There are moments where the full group will come together for shared experiences of sound, movement, or food, led by the facilitation team. The structure is relaxed and accessible, with clear visual and verbal cues supporting transitions between activities.

Seating: Unreserved seating is available at this event, but if you have specific requirements, please get in touch.

Audio: The event includes participatory sound-making using simple instruments and kitchen utensils, as well as group vocal and musical activity. Noise levels will vary depending on participant engagement, including the presence of children. While there is no excessively loud sound planned, there may be occasional peaks during collective sound-making moments.

Free earplugs are available at the ticket desk if needed.

Lighting: Generally warm, low to medium ambient lighting throughout, with gentle changes in intensity and colour to support different sections of the event.

Projections / lasers / visual effects: A projected live video feed will be used at specific moments during the performance (e.g. embroidery table and food preparation).

Quiet space: There is no dedicated quiet space at this venue.

Venue Accessibility

This event is in the Main Hall of St. Andrews United Reformed Church.

Detailed access information is available on AccessAble.

If you have any questions regarding accessibility for this event, please contact us at access@migrationmattersfestival.co.uk.

  • TASTE was originally created with migrant women in Bristol, in partnership with refugee charity Borderlands, and local migrant practitioners. For Migration Matters Festival, TASTE will be adapted and developed in collaboration with Sheffield-based artists, a local Chef, and migrant support charities/organisations.

  • TASTE is led by Carlota Matos, a theatre and performance artist working internationally with a focus on social change, with current projects in the UK, Portugal, and France. Her practice explores questions of identity, migration, and mental ill-health, in the form of documentary / experimental / participatory performances. She frequently collaborates with charities, artists from different disciplines, young people, communities, and people who are not necessarily trained or experienced performers.

    Carlota is the co-founder of Refugee Week Portugal. She has directed and facilitated for companies such as Local Learning, Firebird Theatre, Many Minds, and Travelling Light, and has been commissioned by Projekt Europa and Counterpoints Arts. Previous residencies include CAMPUS Paulo Cunha e Silva, Staatstheater Mainz, and Les Théâtres de la Ville de Luxembourg. She also works as a consultant in creative access and the ethics of participatory arts.

  • TASTE is co-created with Ania Varez, a Venezuelan dance artist and community worker based in Bristol. Ania makes experimental and collaborative performances, working with other artists and with people who may not identify as artists yet. They graduated with honours from the London Contemporary Dance School and have worked as a performer, maker, movement director and teacher since.

    Ania's show Guayabo toured internationally as well as in the UK, including SPILL Festival. Ania was awarded a Leverhulme Scholarship from the Bristol Old Vic in 2019. They are a proud member of Interval, an artist support network in Bristol.

  • TASTE is produced by Weronika Dwornik, a Polish-Belarusian theatre-maker, producer and facilitator based in London, working in devised, socially engaged performance & documentary theatre.

    They are a co-founder and lead producer of Coin Toss Collective, creating collaborative work presented at venues including Bristol Old Vic, Pleasance, and VAULT Festival. In 2025 they were the guest curator of Migration Matters Festival’s Gather strand, which placed creativity at the heart of community building. The programme featured participatory art experiences, musical explorations of migration and heritage, and projects such as UTOPIARIUM and It Happened Here, inviting audiences to imagine personal and collective utopias.

    As a producer, Weronika develops projects co-created with communities, including TASTE, a multi-sensory participatory performance by Carlota Matos exploring food and migration, and MotoBR, a documentary theatre project by Gustavo Dias Vallejo created with Brazilian delivery workers in London.

  • Julius Obende is a Nigeria-born multidisciplinary performer, theatre maker, choreographer, percussionist, and community engager whose work spans Nigeria, the UK, and Europe. With over a 15 years of experience, he was formerly one of Lagos’ most sought-after stage performers, working extensively with Kininso Koncepts Productions Nigeria & UK and Bolanle Austen-Peters Productions at Terra Kulture. His collaborations have also included organisations such as the British Council and Goethe-Institut.

    Now based in the UK, Julius continues to develop bold, socially conscious work rooted in movement, rhythm, and storytelling. His recent credits include Death and the King’s Horseman with Utopia Theatre and Sheffield Theatres, as well as R&D on Crown of Blood.

    He is the creator of ROOTS, a Grand Plan-funded interdisciplinary project exploring identity, heritage, and belonging through performance and live music. Julius is also developing original solo work that blends theatre, spoken word, movement, and percussion. His latest one-man show, Ijakadi, created and performed by Julius Obende in collaboration with Joshua Alabi, is set to be presented at Sheffield Theatres and CAST in February 2027.

EVENT INFO

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