My name is Mahboobeh Rajabi, and I am a refugee from Iran. I am an artist, creative producer, cultural leader, and creative entrepreneur.
I came to the UK in 2009, just turning 21 years old, after the green revolution in Iran, and I experienced nearly 6 years of being an asylum seeker. During the hard time of waiting for a decision on my case with experiencing detention and 3 courts, I started to volunteer in an art organisation supporting artists like me.
My story is all about recognition of people that are in the UK, from different backgrounds such as refugee asylum seekers and any underrepresented artists that the arts and cultural sector failed to support.
After working on so many projects I got my status in 2015 and my career flew internationally. In 2016 and 2017 I worked with European Cultural Foundation and have been asked to speak at the World Health Organisation on their migration and health global webinar about my works and story. I have also been awarded Jerwood Creative Fellowship at Manchester International Festival. In 2016 I started my enterprise DIPACT, which that time started only as a collective because during my work, I met incredible artists who are well known in their hometown country, but they come to the UK and there is no recognition on their skills, talent, and their wealth of experience.
I developed DIPACT, which stands for Diverse Innovative Platform for Arts Communities Transformation, with giving platform and voice to artists to talk about their practice and experience. I was also leading different projects across Manchester, Greater Manchester, and the North of the UK. I also worked with universities working on radical and important research projects to bring new projects to and opportunities to incredibly diverse creatives we have in Manchester and Greater Manchester. Since 2021 DIPACT developed as an artist led cafe clusters that not only give creative opportunities to artists but also sustain an employment for them in 2024 DIPACT has been chosen as one of the global solutions to refugee crisis by the Refugee Summit. My story is all about recognition of people that are in the UK, from different backgrounds such as refugee asylum seekers and any underrepresented artists that the arts and cultural sector failed to support.
For more information visit:
LinkedIn | Instagram | X | dipact.co.uk
