I grew up in a multicultural community in Washington D.C. My passion for using art, culture, and media to empower and unite people and communities is what led me to become a filmmaker and teacher. I have directed films about labor, tourism, culture, and the environment. My film Making History: SEIU and the Labor Movement won a CINE Golden Eagle Award. As a Fulbright Fellow in Brazil, I made Olinda: World Cultural Heritage Site and Lord of Olinda, and worked for Video in the Villages, teaching documentary production to indigenous youth. I am currently distributing my film, Whales of Gold, about who benefits from ecotourism and environmental conservation in a small fishing community in Baja California Sur, Mexico. I have taught film classes at the University of Texas at Austin and at Austin schools through Theater Action Project, while continuing to work as an independent filmmaker. I have a BA in Development Studies and Portuguese/Brazilian Studies from Brown University and an MFA in Film/Video from the University of Texas.

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After graduating from Bowdoin College with an English degree in 2002, I quickly relocated to Austin, where I have lived ever since. I soon started a band, the Unbearables, with which I have recorded and released three albums, and performed all over the country. In the summer of 2003, I found a position at the Khabele School and I decided that this was the job for me, and that this school would come to transform my life. Originally hired to teach Math, I quickly discovered that my true educational passion lay in sharing music with students, and have managed to build Khabele's music program from the ground up. I have turned Khabele's music program into a cornerstone of the Khabele method. Our music program has won several awards at the TAPPS District and State competitions, has performed for school and public events, and features three jazz ensembles, a choir and drum ensemble, and a world music ensemble. I am proud to be Khabele's "first hire" outside of the three founding members and to enter my eighth year of teaching here.

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My obsession with photography began in high school at the age of 15 when I first saw an image magically appear before my eyes in the darkroom. After that I was hooked and through the medium of photography I was able to freely express my thoughts and emotions and learned how to blend my passion for music with it as well. By making photographs, I was able to speak and be understood universally. Originally from the SF Bay Area, I graduated from San Francisco State University with a degree in Fine Art Photography in 2001. After college I worked as a photo editor and co-founded a Bay Area arts collective while showing my own artwork.  Moving to Austin in 2005, I continued to show my artwork, worked as an art director, creative director and photo editor, volunteered for Big Medium (E.A.S.T.), and have been working as a professional photographer since 2001 (http://suzannekoett.com/). Now it has come full circle and as a photography teacher I am happy to teach all of the technical aspects of photography, but more importantly, am thrilled to be able to instill passion, creativity, self-awareness and to foster an environment where students are free to experiment with their ideas and to be heard/understood/respected through their art. Officially my first year teaching at the Khabele School, I feel extremely fortunate be a part of such an enriching and inspiring community made up of students, staff and parents.

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I received my undergraduate degree in Music Education from Northwestern University, and spent the following few years touring around the country performing at colleges with an a cappella singing group. Eventually, I grew weary of traveling (and the fact that there wasn’t much good vegetarian food to be found on the road), and settled down to become a full-time music teacher at a small progressive high school near San Francisco called The Athenian School. After eight years of directing the choral program at Athenian, I felt an inner calling to interact with students as a counselor in addition to as a teacher. That calling ultimately led me to the Educational Psychology department at the University of Texas at Austin, where I received a Masters of Education in Counselor Education. These days, in addition to counseling and directing the chorus at Khabele, I regularly perform around town as lead guitarist and backup singer with The Lost Pines, a bluegrass/Americana band. I also teach a weekly Kundalini yoga class at Yoga Yoga, and have a daily yoga & meditation practice.

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I am an artist, teacher and writer, originally from Ireland who has been living and working in Austin for eight years. I graduated from the College of Art, Design and Print in Dublin, Ireland in 1990 before completing a second diploma in art and design education at Crawford College of Art in Cork, Ireland. I have been teaching art and design for 14 years. As an artist, I have exhibited in Ireland, the UK, Germany and the United States and my work is in many private collections throughout the world including that of the former Irish Prime Minister. In addition to my work as an artist and teacher, I am a founding member and editor of Cantanker Magazine, Austin’s only full-color magazine devoted exclusively to visual art. I live and work in east Austin with my wife, my two sons and two cats.

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