Mixit Team

Wendy Preston – Mixit Director
Wendy has over 27 years of professional involvement in the arts as a choreographer, director, tutor, performer and artistic producer/manager. She has worked extensively with youth throughout her career and has focused on cross-cultural and inter-disciplinary artistic interaction. She has worked on marae, in schools, community halls, theatres, film and TV and in tertiary arts education

Biruktayet Shiferaw – Mixit Project Co-ordinator
Biruktayet, known to us all as Brook, is originally from Ethiopia. The daughter of a political refugee her family ended up in New Zealand when she was 14. After completing school Brook went on to study a Batchelor of Fine Arts at Elam, University of Auckland. She has an interest in film and multi-media art forms and has directed short films including ‘Into The Mix’ a documentary about Mixit. Brook handles all Mixit design, web site development and management.

Moss Patterson - Choreographer
Moss is a tutor, choreographer and former Head of Dance for Te Wananga O Te Aotearoa. He has a background in contemporary dance and for many years was a performer with the Black Grace Dance Company. Moss is also a core member of the Atamira Dance Collective and is a freelance choreographer

Debora Peters – Community Facilitator & Mixit parent
Debora is a refugee from Sudan. Her background includes community leadership, teaching and project management. In NZ she obtained a degree in Social Work and currently works for CYFS (Child, Youth & Family Services). Debora is deeply committed to working closely with positive community building initiatives

Margaret-Mary Hollins – Theatre Director
Margaret-Mary has worked as a professional theatre director, actor, tutor, producer and writer for over twenty years and trained over seas and in NZ. She has worked extensively with youth as both a tutor and director and is interested in physical theatre - developing new work and exploring the classics with both youth and experienced performers
 
Francois Byamana – Community Facilitator & Drama Tutor
Originally from Rwanda Francois has broad involvement with many diverse communities here in NZ. He is often called upon to MC community events and runs the Pan-Africa radio show at Planet FM. He is interested in media and communications, loves drama and is a committed Mixit member. Currently he is undertaking a Commercial Broadcasting course with the NZ Radio Institute

Katy Dugdale – Visual Arts Tutor
Katy graduated from Art school in Sydney in the 1980s and spent many years working in various creative fields. She trained as a teacher and has been teaching Visual Arts at Auckland Girls Grammar for the last five years. Katy is a core Mixit supporter and when not actively leading creative workshops participates on many other levels

Susan Haldane – Theatre Director
Sue is a freelance actor, director, singer and teacher. As Artistic Director for ‘Theatre Frontier’ – a touring Theatre-In-Eduction Company – for the last 18 years she has created and performed innovative and contemporary theatre for young people throughout NZ. She is currently a drama tutor at EXCEL School of Performing Arts

Muhammad Ali Kanwal – Community Facilitator & Drama Tutor
Ali is from Pakistan and has a keen interest in creativity on many levels – music, theatre and film. In Pakistan he composed music for radio and TV and in NZ directs a production company ‘Free Fall Productions’ that makes short documentaries and videos. Since 2002 he has been acting and directing stage plays for the Pakistani Welfare & Cultural Society

Amina Daud Timayare – Community Facilitator and Mixit Supporter
Amina is originally from Somalia and spent many years living and raising family in Paris. Amina has a professional background in media and psychology, using both to assist those in war torn Somalia. Since re-locating to NZ Amina runs ‘Somali Concern’ an organisation that works with refugee and migrants. She is enthusiastic about the role the arts can play in healing trauma and inspiring individuals towards positive growth and self-development

Tina Malou – Mixit Youth Leader
Tina is originally from Sudan and lived for many years as a child in the Kakuma refugee camp in Kenya. She came with her family to New Zealand when she was 13. After finishing high school Tina went on to study fashion design and is currently undertaking a degree in Social Sciences. Tina is also a successful model for both catwalk and magazines and won the inaugural Miss Africa/NZ title in 2006
 

Guest Tutors
Mixit also invites guest tutors from various areas of expertise. These have included:

Lisa Brickell: Mask and theatre
Sparrow Phillips: Aerosol artist, illustrator/designer and DJ
Dan Tippet: Aerosol mural artist and illustrator
Taiaroa Royal: Choreographer
MC Bling (Khalid-El-Shareif): MC Rap Artist
Grant Cole: Capoeira
Blaze: Hip Hop Dance Group
Zach Becroft: Intro to Hip Hop Culture Co-ordinator
Mike & Bronwyn Baker: Circus and aerial arts tutors
Rachel and Ben Wendell: Acrobatic and trapeze artists
Maya Dorcil: Haitian percussionist
Fraser Bruce: Percussionist
Ruth Nahi: Percussionist
Noa Campbell: Drama tutor
Darren Kamali: Poet and musician
Karlo Mila: Poet
Anna Coddington: Songwriter and musician
Bjorn Peterson: Songwriter and musician
Cushla Dillon: Writer and film editor
Don  McGlashan: Composer and Musician
Becky Nunes: Photographer
Taane Mete: Choreographer
Richie Cesan: Choreographer
Kimata: Dancer
Ilai Amir: Web Designer
Antonio Hernandez: Capoeira



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