Our Festival demonstrates how Shakespeare is truly ‘the world’s playwright’, and how his work inspires people from many countries and cultures, helping them to express their own thoughts, feelings and aspirations.

We operate in York: a City of Sanctuary and the UK’s first Human Rights City. Our key partner, York St John University, is a University of Sanctuary. We also support the City of Sanctuary Charter, believing in the values of inclusivity, openness and the participation of people seeking sanctuary, and seeking to inspire and to act with integrity in our relationships.

We aim to reflect these values in our programming and in the way that we work with displaced people among our audiences and our performers. We are proud to work alongside Refugee Action York and York City of Sanctuary to recognise and celebrate the contributions of refugees and asylum seekers in the UK.

We have hosted performances by Ukrainian artists from Molodyy Theatre (2023) and Ivano-Frankivsk (2024); staged a collaborative piece with these artists and with displaced people living locally; worked with York’s Ukrainian theatre group D:Space (2025); partnered with York St John University in providing space for discussion of issues around displacement and sanctuary, and featured texts – including at least one world premiere – by and about people living under oppression, or facing exile. For more about these, please explore our recent Festival programmes.

We are aware that we have a long way to go, but commit to continuing to give space and support to these diverse voices.