Mixit is all about people. Meet our Alumni, our Youth Leaders and the support team that have made Mixit what it is today.
Youth leaders
Mixit has a dynamic Youth Leadership programme. This programme offers motivated individuals an opportunity to step up into roles where they face new challenges and opportunities to grow their skills.
Youth Leaders take on organisational and planning responsibilities, gain experience of creative facilitation skills, manage the digital media aspects of the project, have the opportunity and support to initiate events and projects that inspire them. The youth leaders are an integral and dynamic team within Mixit and work hard together to make a difference.
Ilknur Ozbal
Youth leader
Ilknur is our most recent addition to the Youth Leader programme, joining in early 2019. When she's not busy focusing on her Year 12 studies at Waitakere College you'll find her keeping active through playing sports and going to the gym. She is also interested in promoting the value diversity and encouraging people to be happy with their difference...
Zahra Habibi
Youth leader
Zahra Habibi was first introduced to Mixit by alumni Izadine Abdallah. She has been a part of our Youth Leadership programme since 2018. After completing her studies at Mangere College in 2019, she hopes to study Medicine or Optometry at Auckland University. She says "Mixit is fun part of my life at the moment. I just stay away from all the pressur...
Ilham Akhlaqi
Youth leader
Ilham Akhlaqi joined our Youth Leadership programme in 2018. She is currently in her second year of a Bachelor of Creative Technologies at AUT, and hopes to pursue a career that allows her to draw upon her interest in technology as well as art and design.
Team
Wendy Preston MNZM
Creative Producer/Director
Wendy has over 30 years of professional involvement as a choreographer, director, tutor, performer and artistic producer/manager. She has worked extensively with young people on performance projects throughout her career, focusing on cross-cultural and inter-disciplinary creative interaction. Wendy has collaborated with leading practitioners across...
Shari Lett
Project Manager
Shari Lett is an educator, curator and project manager who is committed to creating meaningful connections between people and the arts. Prior to relocating to Tāmaki Makaurau in 2018, she was the Art Gallery of New South Wales’ Archivist of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Collections, and Studio Manager for artist Ben Quilty. Since completin...
Te Rawhina McDowell
Financial Manager
Te Rawhina McDowell graduated with a degree in Economics and Statistics in 2001 and subsequently never worked as either an economist or a statistician. She has however been a Policy Adviser, Manager of Backpackers Hostel in Chile, English Teacher, Research Centre Business Manager and Accounts Administrator, and is a full-time Mum as well as Mixit’s...
Board members
Jan Alley
Chair
Jan ran a Human Resource, Learning and Development consultancy and has recently been involved in organisational development for organisations as varied as Westpac NZ Limited, Watercare, NZ Transport and the University of Auckland. Jan’s extensive governance experience gives her the steady capability to guide the board. She is constantly inspired by...
Kaviesha Abeysinghe
Trustee
Kaviesha joined Mixit as a teenager before becoming a part of the Youth Leadership Programme. More recently she has become an active member of the Alumni, co-facilitating Mixit workshops in schools and in other regions around NZ. She is currently studying to be a Primary school teacher, after graduating with a Science degree and working in a labor...
Susan Davis
Trustee
Susan has a background teaching and engaging with visual arts and poetry initiatives. As a trustee she brings a set of skills that connects the space between Board and Management and flows through to direct mentoring of the Mixit participants. Susan hosts our annual Youth Leaders retreats on her rural property in Northland and is a deeply committed...
Alumni squad
Mixit Youth Leaders graduate into our Alumni team. The team actively engage on many levels – as Ambassadors, on the Board, mentoring youth, performing for external events, creating music (check out our videos) and participating in continued training to creatively lead and manage outreach opportunities.
Oscar Arnold
Alumni squad
Oscar comes from a performing arts family, who discovered Mixit at one of our outdoor site-specific performance events. Oscar immediately jumped in with his irrepressible brand of enthusiastic energy and willingness. He’s always ready to leap into any creative direction – be it dance, acting or music. It’s not if he will jump but simply how high an...
Batanai Mashingaidze
Alumni squad
Batanai is an emerging professional artist who has worked in a range of roles since graduating from Toi Whakaari as an actor. She has been employed as a performer in theatre, film, on dance projects and as an AD in the film industry. She was a creative coach on a Mixit summer project FRESH EYES and the Assistant Director on the JUMP CUT summer proj...
Kaviesha Abeysinghe
Alumni squad
Kaviesha read about Mixit in her local paper as a teenager and ventured into the project determined to find opportunities for herself and her sister. She has always been involved with traditional Sri Lankan dance and discovered at Mixit the stimulation of different kinds of contemporary art forms and never looked back. She initially thought she wou...
Selected guest artists
Bert Van Dijk:
Theatre Director & Performer
Ahi Kahrunahran:
Theatre Director
Helen Todd:
Lighting Designer
Don McGlashan:
Composer & Musician
Chris Graham:
Theatre Director & Performer
Moss Patterson:
Choreographer
Margaret-Mary Hollins:
Theatre Director & Performer
Eddie Elliott:
Choreographer & Performer
Tama Jarman:
Theatre Director & Performer
Tawanda Manyimo:
Theatre Director & Performer
Paulo Rotondo:
Director & Writer
Jahra Wasasala:
Multi-Disciplinary Artist
Sarah-Jane Blake:
Visual Installation & Designer
Ilai Amar:
Film maker
Katy Parker:
Visual Theatre Artist
Mel Bailey aka Kloos:
Performer & Musician
Muhammad Ali Kanwal:
Musician & Performer
Megan Bardsley:
Graphic Designer
Elijah Kennar:
Choreographer & Performer
Mike & Bronwyn Baker:
Ariel Acrobats & Circus Tutors
Ella Becroft:
Photographer & Graphic Designer
Ben Crowder:
Actor
Justin Haiu:
Choreographer & Performer
Ebon Grayman:
Performer & Aerial Acrobat
Yair Katz:
Musician
Katy Burton:
Choreographer & Performer
Eve Gordon & Dust Palace:
Performers & Aerial Acrobats
Sparrow Phillips:
Artist
Andi Crowne:
Photographer
Malia Johnston:
Choreographer & Director
Chris Jannides:
Choreographer & Director
Alexander Holloway:
Stage Combat
Bianca Hyslop:
Choreographer & Performer
Chris O’Connor:
Composer & Musician
Felix Becroft:
Performer & Musician
Daniel Ortiz Rodreiguez:
Composer & Musician
Emily Carter & Natalie Keane:
Costume Stylists
Gaby Thomas:
Choreographer & Performer
Global connections
Mixit has a growing network of similar inspiring creative organisations that work with young people and marginalized communities. We are interested in making new connections, partnerships and opportunities with like-minded groups. If you have a project and want to link up with Mixit reach out, start talking and join our global connections map.
CAN – Community Arts Northwest, Manchester
can.uk.comProject Phakama, London
projectphakama.orgContact Theatre, Manchester
contactmcr.comOvalhouse Theatre, London
ovalhouse.comCounterpoints Arts and Platforma, London
counterpointsarts.org.ukCoHealth Arts Generator, Melbourne
cohealthartsgenerator.comMulticultural Arts Victoria, Melbourne
.multiculturalarts.com.auThe Open University for Refugees, Singapore
initiativeour.orgHelp us continue mixing. Donate now.
We are a charitable trust. The best way to support Mixit is with a regular donation to help fund our work. Donations to Mixit are tax deductible.
Make a regular donation, a one off donation, or get in touch to talk about taking a more personalised approach such as contributing to a specific project, donating your time, or making a large one-off donation.
