Hippodrome Origins is an 18-month artist development programme for creatives in the West Midlands who make theatre.
The eight artists on the programme benefit from:
• A £2500 bursary
• Workshops and artistic development
• Access support
• Rehearsal and work space
• Dramaturgical and creative support
• A platform and resources to share new work
• Free tickets to selected shows at the Hippodrome and other venues
• Funded trips to the theatre and cultural events
• Discounts at the Hippodrome
Origins was created to support artists to work on the ideas that energise them, fill their creative well with artistic and cultural experiences, and develop their practice within a group of peers.
So far we’ve had workshops with incredible artists like Ola Animashawun, Chris Cooper, Jenni Jackson, James Yarker and Jaz Woodcock-Stewart, who work nationally and internationally and have roots in the Midlands. We’ve been to shows in Birmingham and beyond and had open and critical discussions about the work we’ve seen.
From spring 2025-26, these eight brilliant artists will be writing, researching, making and moving at the Hippodrome, and I can’t wait to see what they create.
Amerah Saleh is a spoken word artist born and bred from Birmingham. Her Muslim Yemeni roots give her space to get lost and found on multiple occasions between identity. She is the Co-Founder of Verve Poetry Press.
Elizabeth O’Connor is a Birmingham-based writer. Her short stories have appeared in The White Review and Granta, and she was the 2020 winner of the White Review Short Story Prize.
Grace is a dramaturg and playwright based in Birmingham. She enjoys working on plays that embrace complexity, test form and ask questions that get under our skin.
Jaz is an artist-curator and writer who cares about community repair and culture-building.
Louis is a freelance theatre maker, based in the West Midlands. His creative practice seeks to combine queer storytelling with bold and inventive contemporary theatre processes.
Nathan Sebastian Lafayette is a Birmingham based multidisciplinary artist working within the realms of dance, music production and film.
Tina Hofman: I am a theatre artist, creative producer/collaborator and an academic who emigrated to UK as a young person, and has spent 25 years being “in-between”: living, working, relating to different geographical and made-up spaces.
Zakariye is a poet, performer, playwright and filmmaker from Birmingham.