As our 2024 tour of CODE draws to a close, let’s take a look back at the impact the project has had on communities around the UK and further afield.
From school programmes and youth residencies to performing in city centres and festivals, CODE’s reach has been wide and has touched so many different people.
The stats
In total, we performed to an amazing 14,000 people over 33 shows across the UK and internationally. That’s families, young people, teachers, police, councillors, and more, all being moved and inspired through theatre.
2,435 young people participated in the CODE programme, learning about county lines and knife crime on a deeply engaging level.
- 60% of school students said they knew more about county lines after a Justice in Motion presentation
- 60% of school students thought that mixing performance and information was effective
The stories
There were so many stories to come out of our tour this year, but here are three of some of the most impactful.
- Ten young people took part in our CODE residencies across the country, spending three days learning skills in physical theatre, parkour, dance, and rap, before getting the amazing opportunity to perform live on stage in CODE in front of their local community. One particular success story was in Hull, where participants Barry and Leyland said it was something that they had never experienced before. They said “This was the best thing I have done in my whole life” and “I’m really pleased I got past my nerves and the feeling of being embarrassed of performing not only in public but in front of friends & family”.
2. Time and time again, when we went into schools we had feedback from teachers saying how valuable our work was for students, and how it managed to connect with students that were otherwise disconnected. For example, in Bicester, one young boy hadn’t engaged in school for the whole academic year, and joined in with ALL parts of the day.
3. At several of our shows we had audience members come up to us after the show to say that they had been involved in county lines themselves. They said how realistic CODE was in portraying their story, and that they were grateful to us for showing how someone can become groomed.
Why?
So why are we doing all of this? Well, we want to see change in society around county lines and knife crime. We’re heartbroken at the countless stories of young people being exploited and put in incredibly dangerous situations that can often lead to violence, and death.
We want to help raise awareness and get people talking about the issues, so that more people will spot the signs and intervene, and more young people will have a brighter looking future.
2025
CODE is taking a rest over the winter now, but we have big plans for 2025. We want people to see this show up and down the country, as well as internationally, and we want to work with more young people directly than ever before.
Will you join us on the journey?