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Criminal JusticePosts - 12 Sep 2013

Utilising the arts for gang intervention

Wolverhampton-based Engage Youth Empowerment Service (E.Y.E.S) is a grassroots gang intervention programme that engages with both gang members and those at high risk of entering gangs. Real Talk forms part of EYES’ UTURN Programme which focuses largely on the role of peer pressure in joining as well as wanting to exit gangs.
 
Real Talk utilises the arts as a gang intervention tool, running workshops in schools to open a dialogue about the problems faced by young people living in areas of high tension. This information is then adapted into a piece of forum theatre and performed in front of young people involved. The interactive performance encourages the audience to find solutions to the problems they outlined through taking on the role of the main character to change the negative outcomes presented into positive outcomes.
 
The film below illustrates one such forum theatre performance at a Wolverhampton Secondary School.