Javaad Alipoor is mixed race who lies and works in the north of England.  I make formally challenging, politically committed and provocative work that situates audiences and communities at the heart of the artistic process. I am artistic director of the community theatre company Northern Lines, as well as engaging in professional practice through my own work.

Over the past two years I have made three plays Hurr, Orgreave: An English Civil War and My Brother’s Country that have begun to develop my reputation as an artist across Yorkshire and the North West.  My Brother’s Country was a play about the murdered Iranian poet, singer and TV producer Fereydoun Farrokhzad that toured, through the Routes North commission to Theatre in the Mill, The ARC at Stockton and Theatre in the Mill, Bradford. 

My work is made for and with communities that do not normally engage with theatre, and I have a track record of delivering innovative engagement work that sits between and across audience development, participation and artist development specifically targeting BAMER and disadvantaged communities.   

My process as an artist situates me within communities that do not usually access theatre.  I R&D and began the process of making work within community centres and organisations like the Red Cross, so I can bring the diverse experiences of diverse communities into the process.  This means that I am in a strong position when it comes to audience engagement from these communities. 

The plays I have presented at Theatre in the Mill, for instance, have had a around 70% of their audiences from BAMER communities, and around 30% from people who have not been to the theatre before.  Through the Routes North process I was able to develop engagement strategies for other venues, even at the much “whiter” venues of The Lowry and The ARC, because of our engagement work we ended up with audiences where around 40% had not been to the venue before, and around 30% were from BAMER backgrounds.