Messengers Tutors

Penny has many years of experience in the government and non-government arts and community sectors and has worked at the Tuggeranong Arts Centre for over 5 years as the Messengers Manager. She studied at the ANU School of Art in painting, printmaking, glass and book making and brings these skills when tutoring in the classes. She now combines both her passions for the arts and the community sector in the Messengers Program. Penny values the capacity for art making to heal and encourage social interactions and community building and brings this philosophy to the Messengers Program. She enjoys the energy and creativity of today’s teenagers and young people and looks forward to the world they will create in the future.

Kelsey has been with the Tuggeranong Arts Centre for five years and as youth support worker for the Messengers Program she is responsible for engaging and supporting young people through the program. Kelsey holds a Bachelor of Science in Psychology with a major in Counselling from the University of Canberra. Recently she completed her fourth-year psychology thesis at the University of New England in which she investigated emotional intelligence and formal help-seeking for anxiety disorders.  In Messengers, Kelsey works creatively to engage young people back into their communities, build support networks, address challenges, and encourage young people to reach their goals. Kelsey is passionate about working with and empowering young people who experience mental health issues to reach their goals and she appreciates the powerful positive impacts that the arts have on personal wellbeing and mental health recovery. 

Sui Jackson is a mixed-media visual artist who is driven by a desire to express the natural world in a mass-produced environment, often using found or recycled materials and industrial processes to create pieces in glass, paper, print, cast metal and ceramic. He holds a Bachelor of Visual Art (Glass) from the Australian National University and has exhibited his work in Australia, Shanghai and Singapore. He has many years’ experience teaching visual arts to people of all ages.

Bryce was a participant of the Messengers program for two years as a teenager and has been further developing himself as an arts assistant in the program. Bryce is an emerging artist specialising in printmaking, painting, drawing and mixed media street art.  In 2018, he was the recipient of the Rotary Youth Art Award. As part of Tuggeranong Arts Centre, STILE Mentorship Program he developed and facilitated two successful street art workshops with young people in Woden.

Blaide is curious about the how and why of life and makes art in all mediums to explore and express those concepts. As a child, she experienced great displacement and was exposed to a wide range of living situations, which led her to make art about relationships and self-identity. Through her artwork, she explores the world, external systems of community and culture and observes the ever-changing roles that people play in various constructed spaces and environments. Blaide has made works in all mediums from photography, video, performance, painting and immersive interactive installations and painting.  

Liz has 30 years experience as a nationally and internationally recognised dance artist, choreographer and producer. Liz directed Canberra Dance Theatre for 6 years and directs two Festivals – DANscienCE where dance and science meet and BOLD, which celebrates the legacy of dance across all identities. She has been commissioned in India, UK, Singapore, Africa and USA. Liz is an artist committed to inclusiveness, working with dancers of all ages, abilities and backgrounds.  

Christopher Samuel Carroll is a professional theatre-artist from Ireland, known for his daring physical work in ensembles and as a solo performer. He is a passionate believer in the value of theatre for nurturing skills in communication and collaboration, as well as personal development. 

Lily graduated from ANU with a bachelor of Visual Art in 2017 and completed her honours at RMIT in Melbourne in 2019. Her work centers around the process of thinking through painting. She reflects on the world around her and experiments with the application of paint and use of colour, pushing the different ways to best express herself on the canvas. Her work seeks to understand the process of painting and allows for imagination and experimentation to take over. Lily has worked at the Tuggeranong Arts Centre on and off for a number of years in the front of house and events team. She has always enjoyed teaching and sharing her interest in art and making with others.