MISSION
Our mission is to foster a creative ecosystem based in Saxapahaw, North Carolina, through the cross-pollination of artist residencies, educational outreach and groundbreaking immersive artworks from local, national and international artists.
VISION
We believe that culture is an investment in civil society, and such an investment benefits from the existence of open, dynamic and fluid enclaves fostered by artists and other creative people. We believe that gathering together and sharing knowledge and resources within these enclaves will improve both our artworks and our communities. We believe in the commingling of different ideas, energies and initiatives as a means of sparking innovation and radical possibilities in art and society. We believe in culture as an ongoing creative process, and we seek to support and feed that process through our various programs and initiatives.
In this way, Culture Mill powers an arts ecosystem. It is a generator. It sustains an ecosystem. Utilizing the image of a mill, Culture Mill operates in circular movements, pulling in art and audiences, followers and friends of all different sorts, letting it mix together and sending it outward at the same time. Like a mill, it is composed of different moving parts and interlocking mechanisms. These parts are its residency program, its education and outreach programs and its crafted immersive experiences. Culture Mill values a circular exchange of resources, ideas, energy and social and creative capital within a community, rather than linear transactions. As it draws multiple energies in and spirals new ones out, Culture Mill is distinctly and necessarily grounded in a place: Saxapahaw, NC.
Our Staff
Murielle Elizeon
Co-Director
Murielle Elizéon is a French- American choreographer, performer, embodied dramaturg, facilitator and teaching artist.
She was born and raised in an Italo-Africano-Indian French family in a distressed neighborhood of Nice, South of France. Informed by her own lived experience, Murielle understood from an early age the transformative power of embodied listening and moving practices to incite radical imagination and resilience.
She studied Italian Literature and Dance Aesthetics while completing her contemporary dance training in Nice and Paris, France and began her professional dance career in 1995. Additionally, she completed a DanceAbility Teacher certification with Alito Alessi at Impulztanz in Vienna, Austria in 2010, studied Argentine tango in Argentina and Germany for 15 years, finished her yoga teacher training in the US in 2015, and has practiced Qi Gong and meditation for 20 years. She is a certified practitioner in a Somatic modality called Focusing and is currently training in generative somatics and NVC (non-violent communication).
For the last 30 years, Murielle has collaborated and performed with various choreographers and directors across Europe and the US, such as Palle Granhoj, Bob Wilson, Thomas Lebrun, Joachim Schlomer, Eun-Me Ahn, Okwui Okpokwasili, Alexandre Iseli as well as shared her own artistic projects with Institutions and Festivals in Ireland, Finland, Germany, Switzerland, France, Denmark, and the U.S. She has taught contemporary dance professional training and workshops in Denmark, Germany and the US.
In 2014, Murielle moved to the U.S. and co-founded Culture Mill, a Performing Arts Laboratory in Saxapahaw, NC along with artistic partner Tommy Noonan.
Culture Mill serves as both a vehicle to support the creation and touring of Tommy and Murielle’s artistic works as well as container to foster a creative and inclusive ecosystem through artist residencies, community-centered initiatives, and groundbreaking immersive artworks from local, national, and international artists. Culture Mill has won regional awards and has been commissioned by the NC Museum of Art, American Dance Festival, Carolina Performing Arts, Ririe-Woodbury Dance Company, and NC State LIVE. During that time, Murielle was also 2 times finalist for the National Dance Project Award and was awarded a 2025 Dance/USA fellowship.
Murielle has enjoyed leading multigenerational, cross-sectors projects and performances involving various abilities starting in 2010 in Theater Freiburg, Germany. She has spearheaded the Parkinson’s Performance project in NC since its inception in 2017 and has taught guest workshops for Duke Movement Disorders/School of Physical therapy, the School of Occupational therapy at UNC Chapel Hill and DAPOPA in Paris, France. She has collaborated with Val Hanson around restorative practices at DSC and UNC-Chapel Hill and through innovative format in immersive performances.
Caitlyn Swett
Managing and Development Director
Caitlyn Swett (she/her) is a dance-maker, sound artist, and arts administrator from Black Mountain, NC. Her work has meandered throughout North Carolina and led her to co-found Triptych Collective (Charlotte), co-produce On Site/In Sight Dance Festival (Winston-Salem), perform in electropoetry band Streak of Tigers (Durham), and collaborate with interdisciplinary noise/dance project Paideia (NC/NY). Caitlyn’s administrative career has supported the work of Neighborhood Theatre, Helen Simoneau Danse, American Dance Festival, and Culture Mill. She has also performed with choreographers throughout the state. Throughlines of Caitlyn’s artistic and administrative career include sustained commitments to embodied approaches to making, experimental art in non-traditional venues, and a sonic curiosity.
Tommy Noonan
Co-Director
Tommy Noonan (he/him) is a director, choreographer, writer and performer currently based in Saxapahaw, NC. His work has been presented extensively throughout Germany, France, Portugal, Poland, Switzerland, Austria, Spain and Mexico. He was awarded a DanceWEB scholarship to attend ImPulsTanz in 2006. In 2008 he was a finalist for the Rolex Mentor and Protogé Arts Initiative in the field of Dance; in 2009 he was a contributor to Forum PRISMA in Mexico City. Tommy has written texts for publication in Revisita Obscena (Portugal) Freies Theater Journal (Austria) the Performance Journal (New York City) and IndyWeek (Durham, NC). His lecture: “Disorganized Organization”, was given in Istanbul for Team Network’s 2008 symposium on cultural management, with support from the Goethe Institute.
Tommy has collaborated with Okwui Okpokwasili through Carolina Performing Arts’ Creative Futures program, and with Australia’s The Farm, in their creation of “Food Chain”, which premiered in Australia’s Sydney Festival. In Germany he has worked in Opera, Dance and Theater with Graham Smith, Tom Schneider, Joachim Schlömer, Dennis Deter and Stephanie Thiersch. His research and work in public space performance with Georg Hobmeier took place between Argentina, Germany and Austria, and their conversations on performance and public space have appeared in the acclaimed: “Guidebook of Alternative Nows”.
Noonan directed “The Engagement” for the Maxim Gorki Theater’s Heinrich von Kleist festival in Berlin and has toured his smaller works such as “Wilderness”, “Tout Court”, “What Doesn’t Work”, and “Brother Brother” in more than 70 performances and 8 countries. Most recently, he and Murielle Elizeon were commissioned by the American Dance Festival to create a new dance work: “They Are All” as a part of ADF’s 2019 Summer season. Noonan’s work with Elizeon was recognized that year by the NC Dance Festival’s inaugural “Trailblazer Award” for innovative contributions to the field of Dance.
Tommy regularly teaches classes and workshops both internationally as well as locally in North Carolina. More about Tommy's works at tommynoonan.work