International Migrants Day - London

International Migrants Day - London

Join us for our International Migrants Day festival 18 December, 2025

'One City, Many Journeys – Honouring Migrants and Shaping a Shared Future'

As part of the Cultural Hangout Festival London 2025

Migrant Voice and Centre for Youths Integrated Development (CYID) welcome you to the event of the year – a migrant festival to celebrate our lives, journeys and resilience.

Migration continues to shape the social, economic, and cultural fabric of the United Kingdom. From public service to creative innovation, migrants make immense contributions. Yet, challenges like discrimination, exclusion, and integration barriers remain.

Our International Migrants Day 2025 embraces the theme “One City, Many Journeys – Honouring Migrants and Shaping a Shared Future” to affirm that migrants are not peripheral - they are central. They are workers, entrepreneurs, artists, caregivers, and community leaders, enriching the UK’s heritage and growth. This event is a space to challenge stereotypes, inspire empathy, and celebrate shared humanity.

International Migrants Day 2025 is more than an event - it’s a platform for unity, dialogue, and celebration. It’s an opportunity for migrants to be honoured, for communities to connect, and for shared futures to be shaped. We look forward to collaborating with stakeholders to make the festival a meaningful celebration of migration, culture, and community.

Everyone is welcome.

Date: 18 December, 2025

Time: 2-9pm

Venue: St John’s Hyde Park, Hyde Park Crescent, London W2 2QD

To sign up: click here

For more information contact: [email protected]

To inquire about having a stall, fill in this form

To suggest a performance contact  [email protected]

Agenda

2.00pm Arrival

2.30pm Opening ceremony and performances (music by Kaybams - African drumming) 

• Kayode Bamgbose is an experienced drummer and percussionist whose dynamic performances and community-focused work blend traditional African rhythms with contemporary styles across the UK and beyond.

3.00-4.00pm Workshops Choose between:

• ‘Creating a fairer system - challenging extortionate visa fees and longer settlement routes’ and 

• ‘Heritage Education as a Foundation for Tolerance and Mutual Respect.’

4.30-5.30 Performances -  music and poetry

• Sylars … a man with a voice of ease, shaping the world through sound, presence, and a distinctive expression that resonates beyond boundaries.

• Ajide Adeyemi (Ajidans)... a multidisciplinary global theatre artist and Artistic Director of Ajidans Studios Productions, whose vibrant, all-round performance style blends African folklore, storytelling, drumming, dance, and audience-engaged theatre across global and UK stages.

• Spoken word by Crystal Williams… an empowerment advocate, author, and poet whose work inspires growth, self-expression, and positive change.

• Poetry readings by special guests

6.00-7.00pm panel discussion  ‘Hope out of Hostility – shifting the narrative’ 

• Speakers are: Mihnea Cuibus from Migration Observatory, Bekele Woyecha from Together With Refugees, Sara Shamsavari- Artist and lecturer exploring migration, identity and transformation, and Jennifer Ariowa Obaseki from Centre for Integrated Youths Development. The panel is facilitated by Nazek Ramadan from Migrant Voice.

7.00-7.30pm awards ceremony

7.30-8.30pm party

9.00pm closing

About

Migrant Voice is a migrant-led national organisation building a community of migrant voices to speak for ourselves and call for justice for all. We put migrant voices at the centre of the migration debate by developing the skills and confidence of migrants, including asylum seekers and refugees across the UK.

We speak out in the media, on public platforms, in communities, on the streets or in cultural settings to create positive change in society: countering xenophobia, forging new ties, running campaigns, strengthening communities, influencing policy and bringing justice.

The Centre for Youths Integrated Development (CYID), founded in 2005 in Lagos and registered in both Nigeria and the United Kingdom, empowers young people and supports vulnerable communities through skills development, leadership, and entrepreneurship programs. CYID also plays a strategic role in migration advocacy and reintegration support, helping migrants and returnees rebuild their lives with dignity and opportunity.

International Migrants Day is observed annually on December 18 to recognize and honour the contributions of migrants around the world and to promote the protection of their rights. The day finds its roots in the International Convention on the Protection of the Rights of All Migrant Workers and Members of Their Families, adopted by the United Nations General Assembly on December 18, 1990. This landmark convention highlighted the vulnerability of migrant workers and the need for international standards to protect their rights. In 2000, the United Nations officially proclaimed December 18 as International Migrants Day through Resolution A/RES/55/93, in recognition of the growing number of migrants globally and the need to promote respect, inclusion, and dignity across borders.

The Cultural Hangout Festival (CHF) is an international platform celebrating identity, honouring migrant contributions, and promoting unity across cultures. www.culturalhangoutfestival.co.uk