Bringing Sheffield to Life in Minecraft
During May half-term 2026, families and Minecraft enthusiasts came together to take part in The Big Sheffield Build. This collaborative project brought Sheffield to life in a vibrant Minecraft world, one block at a time.
Created in partnership with Sheffield DocFest and Minecraft artist Adam Clarke.
This project invited participants to build their favourite places in Sheffield from the city’s past, present or imagined future. Over nine days, visitors claimed their own plots and left their mark on a unique community-built world.
From 23–31 May, visitors explored what Sheffield means to them through Minecraft in our activity space. Working together, families and young people recreated local landmarks, designed futuristic visions of the city and shared personal interpretations of Sheffield’s identity.
The results, Sheffield of Stories, a Minecraft world built by the people of Sheffield.
Alongside the Minecraft builds, our learning team delivered a range of hands-on activities. Visitors designed and constructed paper worlds to add to a growing handmade map of Sheffield and sketched out ideas before recreating them digitally. They also experimented with building techniques using wooden blocks.
through these activities, participants creatively explored place-making, storytelling and design, offering opportunities for everyone to get involved regardless of their Minecraft experience.
A key part of the project involved collecting personal stories from participants. Through recorded interviews, visitors reflected on their experiences of Sheffield and shared what makes Minecraft such a special platform for creativity and connection.
These stories will be transformed into in-game videos featuring Minecraft avatars, making participants’ voices and experiences part of the world itself. The interviews add an extra layer of storytelling to the project, helping to shape the story of this digital city.
The completed Sheffield of Stories world will become the centrepiece of Sheffield DocFest’s free Alternative Realities Exhibition, held at Yorkshire Artspace from 10–15 June.
The exhibition explores the creative and documentary potential of gaming worlds. It showcases how virtual environments can be used for storytelling, memory-making and artistic expression. Visitors can explore the co-created Minecraft world through interactive stations and projections, discovering the stories shared by Sheffield residents along the way.
Alongside Sheffield of Stories, a range of innovative works will examine storytelling in gaming environments, highlighting the growing role of virtual worlds as spaces for creativity, culture and community.
Thank you to everyone who participated, shared their ideas, and helped build Sheffield block by block. Together, we created a world that reflected the creativity, imagination and community spirit of the city itself.
