Jafar is a Cardiff-based creative of South Asian heritage, predominantly working in theatre. He has held many roles over nearly two decades in the arts sector, and has been working as a producer for the last two years. He was recently the Learning and Participation Producer on GALWAD, the epic transmedia event made with National Theatre Wales and Sky Arts. He is also founder of Scene/Change, the first ever new playwriting scheme for Welsh and Wales-based artists of South Asian heritage. As an arts journalist, Jafar has spoken passionately about systemic issues in the sector; and he founded and hosted the Critically Speaking podcast, in which he spoke to six of the biggest arts leaders in Wales about systemic racism and white privilege in their organisations. Jafar was a part of Stage One’s Bridge The Gap programme for emerging commercial producers from minority communities, and was a recipient of the Stage One Bursary in 2022.
“Getting the opportunity to produce the work with exciting storytellers from the Global Majority is an enormous privilege, and I cannot wait to get started. The importance of the role is not lost on me, and continues my commitment to working with historically excluded communities and giving a platform for their stories to be told. I look forward to the impact this role will have in creating an anti-racist Wales.” Jafar Iqbal