The best DIY venues for art and music in Sheffield

Miriam Schechter is the founder and one of the Directors of Cellar Theatre, a local live art and performance space which was renovated from a disused beer cellar in Sheffield city centre.
Miriam Schechter at the cellar in Dina for Favourite Things. Picture Scott MerryleesMiriam Schechter at the cellar in Dina for Favourite Things. Picture Scott Merrylees
Miriam Schechter at the cellar in Dina for Favourite Things. Picture Scott Merrylees

She has a passion for supporting and advocating grassroots artistic ventures, which she worries are struggling to stay open due to lack of support. She believes that Sheffield fosters a community of doers and get-goers, and the venues listed below are proof of this.

Foodhall

Truly a space for everybody. By day, the open plan concrete space is a cafe run on donated food and volunteer chefs that welcomes everybody for a pay-as-you-feel lunch. The space is also host to clay, gardening, writing, drawing and bike workshops. By night, Foodhall is host to Lates, a varied platform for music and parties that raise money for the space.

Foodhall - Pay as you feel lunchFoodhall - Pay as you feel lunch
Foodhall - Pay as you feel lunch

Plot 22

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A music venue that provides opportunities for local artists to perform, run by social enterprise RiteTrax. The venue also has studio spaces upstairs for anyone who makes live art and music. The space recently raised just under £10,000 for soundproofing and is due to be open

again shortly after a renovation period.

DINA

Has pretty much become a Sheffield’s mothership for artists and non-artists alike. The arts centre not only hosts plays, exhibitions and workshops, but also is a space in which local campaign and activist groups are given space to meet and put on fundraisers. The space hosts the most varied and intense programme of events, as well as a cafe and a theatre in their old beer cellar.

The Local Theatre

This is a new theatre in the Castlegate area, with an interior design that makes you feel like you’ve stepped inside a colouring book. Only open for a few months so far, the theatre has already put on a busy programme of fringe shows and improv comedy from the local region.

Hatch

Previously known as the Audacious Art Experiment, has been an underground institution in Sheffield for a few years now. The best experimental and unusual artists from across the country travel to Hatch to perform in their tiny but comforting space that feels sort of like your best friend’s living room.

Delicious Clam

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A hairdressers turned music studio and gig venue that is the best at supporting local up and coming bands. A simple layout with an excellent vibe and expansive smoking area, the venue is also host to the most alternative New Year’s party in Sheffield, Clam’s in Their Eyes.

Cellar Theatre

Has been described as a ‘place that would be used to boost morale after a nuclear war’. Located literally underground, in the old beer cellar of what was once Stardust and Cutlers Bar, the tiny theatre has been renovated into an extremely intimate performance space with velvet seats, warm lighting and an old school popcorn machine.

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