| Project title: | Rip and Tear Theatre |
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| Project type: | Developmental Crime Prevention |
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| Researchers/contact: | Graham Taylor |
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| Commencement date: | 1992 |
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| Location: | TAS |
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| Funding body/institution: | Australian Violence Prevention Award 1993 ; The Youth Bureau ; Burnie City Council |
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| Description of the study: | Rip & Tear Theatre was established through federal funding from The Youth Bureau as a pilot scheme to work with young offenders. Using the many aspects performance this program gives young people reasons, skills and opportunities to make 'dignified' choices about their lives. Rip & Tear has two specific goals of equal importance, 1) to produce experimental arts based work of excellent quality which challenge and provoke the public and the arts community and, 2) to provide an environment empathetic to the needs of marginalised young people where they can genuinely achieve, be rewarded and undergo periods of intense personal growth. These two goals must be of equal importance for the project to succeed. |
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| Description of the outcomes: | Rip & Tear's target group generally come from backgrounds involving some level of violence. As a result, these young people will often see violence as the first option in resolving frustration and conflict. Many participants have had difficulty breaking out of this culture of violence and Rip & Tear's group dynamic and norms are immediately effective in this regard. |
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| Evaluation: | Rip and Tear Theatre Company evolved into BIGhART in 1993 - BIGhART has been systematically evaluated with both process and impact evaluations being done. Impact evaluations reveal that the program has reduced the likelihood of re-offending amongst the young people involved. For example, a 12-month follow up study of the pilot project found that only one of the 22 young people involved had re-offended. |
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