DANZ QUARTERLY Issue 22 - January, February, March 2011

Mixit is a cross-cultural, interdisciplinary contemporary art project for youth from refugee backgrounds, migrants and the local community. Directed by Wendy Preston, its broad aim is to increase these young people’s skills and confidence through creativity.

Through its creative programme they meet new people, establish ongoing networks, unlock and strengthen life skills that in turn empower communities.

Mixit is the initiative of the private, secular Fledging Trust that was established in 2001 to support young people of New Zealand, particularly marginalised youth. It aims to realise their potential through the development and support of their goals. It has been running for five years, and through its programme, young people have enjoyed dance, drama, circus, songwriting, music, scratching and graffiti art. Wendy says dance and drama work best because of their collective engagement, and while they do performances she says this is not the primary focus. One of the key philosophies is that it is not "outcome oriented" and the focus is on the gains made through engaging with the process.

Wendy is full of passion and commitment and sees her role as director as a more "sage on the side", leading from behind. She says her considerable experience in cross-cultural and marginalised youth work, coupled with an extensive arts background, led to an initial six-month research period. The aim was to ascertain the validity and potential of such a project in New Zealand. What were the needs and issues of refugee communities here? How could it happen here? Was there a range of key people who could inform the
project that did not have, as Wendy says, the "rent a refugee" mindset?

Despite her initial concern she quickly saw the importance of dealing with the growing issues among the newly arriving youth, and became excited about the potential of a two-way conversation between those arriving and those already here.

She says the project operates on a school term basis and they meet every Saturday afternoon. There is a very set structure of an hour and half creative focus and then a social time, cups of tea, food, music playing and soccer. The last half hour is a forum focused on increasing and improving communication about serious issues or extending the previous creative session. Youth leaders are mentored into leading these sessions. At present the focus is hip hop and members of TMC and Prestige hip hop crews are teaching hip hop sequences to the group.

A pivotal part of the success of the project is transport. As the young people live all over Auckland the project hires a 12-seater van and volunteer drivers take turns to pick them up. The older members of the group are encouraged to gain confidence and use Auckland’s public transport.

Youth leading youth, Wendy believes, is a powerful way of working and an important part of the project is the youth leadership programme, which runs parallel to the Saturday programme. She actively identifies young people from the Saturday participants and invites them to take part. They are encouraged to lead by example, run warm ups, lead the forums and engage with those struggling in class. Social get-togethers and planning sessions are held during the week to build their leadership skills and reinforce the group. At present, most of the participants come from Central and East Africa. This has caused a perception that it is a solely African project and one of the challenges is to keep it diverse with an open door policy.

Participants range from teenagers to twenty-somethings, made up of a core of regulars and constant stream of new people. Associated with this is the challenge that refugees move, they do not arrive at one place and stay. Plus, Wendy says quite pragmatically, young people grow up, change and move on. She says another issue with the project is some participants belong to conservative communities, particularly Muslim. Their social codes make them wary of contemporary art forms, gender mixing, music, dance, and drama (unless for formal speeches). Also many migrant families aspire for their children to be doctors, lawyers, IT specialists or accountants but have no real understanding of what this entails. Before arriving in New Zealand, some families have led very disrupted lives, often with a series of relocations and time spent in refugee camps, resulting in inconsistent education for their children.

Parents often have very traditional approaches to learning and see the project as flippant and fun. It is fun, Wendy laughingly agrees; however underneath that she firmly believes there are layers of learning going on that help young people make wise decisions on what they are suited for. Furthermore she maintains that communication and self-esteem have to be in place before someone can
successfully undertake learning. Unfortunately many families do not understand that.

She says creativity and the arts fast-track emotional connections and admits that she is learning the importance of establishing boundaries around emotional engagement and involvement – there is a never-ending vacuum of need.

Wendy thinks that there is an appalling lack of interpersonal skills in New Zealand’s current society, evident in suspicious, ignorant, judgmental and racist behaviour. She hopes through the process of talking, communicating, sharing, interacting and supporting, the project will widen the understanding of people who are different and contribute to positive intercultural understanding.

That the project is still running after five years, and that she could take two months leave is testament to its success. She smiles as she speaks about the project coordinator Biruktayet Shiferaw (Brook), the daughter of a political refugee from Ethiopia, and the youth leaders who stepped up while ‘mother Mixit’ was away.

Tenacious and determined, Wendy is constantly trying to find new ways to solve the challenges that bombard her. She delights in meeting people from different backgrounds and introducing them to new ideas and contemporary art forms. Assisted by the
Mixit team, she is using the power of creativity to make significant changes in these young peoples’ lives.

Return to Contents page of DANZ QUARTERLY No 22 January 2011