About

Tristan Meecham (he/him) Artistic Director

is an Artist who facilitates creative frameworks that enable social transformation; connecting community, audience and artists together in events that transcend the everyday. He is the Director of All The Queens Men.

Tristan was Artistic Director of Give it up for Margaret: A month of philanthropic inspiration, a month long festival inspiring innovative arts philanthropy. GIUFM was created in partnership with Victorian College of the Arts, Margaret Lawrence Bequest and over 20 subsidiary organisations.

Tristan was the creative lead for Going Nowhere, a sustainable international arts exchange at Arts House (2015 Green Room Award for Curatorial Contribution to Contemporary Performance).
He remounted The Everyday Imaginarium as part of Vitalstatistix’s Climate Century in Port Adelaide. From 2010-2014, Tristan was an Artistic Associate and the Philanthropic Manager of Aphids.

Tristan is the recipient of the VCA George Fairfax Memorial Award, British Council’s Realise Your Dream Award and the inaugural Richard Pratt Scholarship. He was the Chair of Green Room Award’s Contemporary and Experimental Performance Panel (2013-2017). Tristan has a Bachelor of Fine Arts (Visual Arts) from QUT and Bachelor of Dramatic Arts (Acting) from VCA.

Bec Reid (she/her) Artistic Director

is an Australian based Performer, Producer, Director and Choreographer. Bec encourages people to experience their worlds in revelatory ways through highly physical, participatory, practical and celebratory actions. For 20+ years, Bec has passionately collaborated where professional Artists and communities coalesce; locally, nationally and internationally.

A WAAPA graduate, Bec began her professional career as Artistic Director of Stompin in Lutruwita (Tasmania), together with Luke George. Bec was a key collaborator with German theatre makers, Rimini Protokoll as the Associate Director of reality-theatre juggernauts, 100% Melbourne (City of Melbourne), 100% Darwin (Darwin Festival) and 100% Brisbane (Museum of Brisbane). Together with Ian Pidd and Kate McDonald, Bec is a co-Founder of Everybody NOW! and has received two Fellowships to date from the Australia Council for the Arts and a Playking Foundation’s Renewal Fellowship.

Bec has continually served across Arts Boards and mentors young and emerging Artists both formally and informally. Bec’s true loves are Staffordshire Bull Terriers, Ceilidhs and Italo Disco.

Anna *Pidge* Pidgeon (she/her) Creative Producer

is an arts facilitator, passionate about creating environments where the work of others can flourish. She has a degree in philosophy and has worked in Radio, the Arts and the Emergency Services as a firefighter all of which feed into her love of talking, problem solving and making things happen in fast-paced, unexpected environments. She loves a late-night heated debate about just about anything and is
always prepared to go all in (often with little information).

Pidge is passionate about facilitating work that challenges and inspires people and considers herself lucky to have been able to do this with companies of all sizes, including ThisSideUp, Die Roten Punkte, Arena Theatre, Legs on the Wall, Sydney Opera House, Dislocate and The Listies. She was the Stage Manager for Circus Oz for many years, working on Big Top productions and touring to every state and territory in Australia as well as extensively around America and in Europe and the UK.

She loves nothing more than working at arts festivals and particularly loves Edinburgh Fringe as it allows her to take a trip back home whilst enjoying the chaos and adrenaline of the biggest Fringe in the world.

CHAIR: Jade Lillie (she/her)

is known for her work as a leader, executive, facilitator, and specialist in community
and stakeholder engagement. She works as a consultant, facilitator and advisor for organisations specialising in strategy, co-design, senior leadership recruitment, governance, people and culture. Her current clients include not for profit organisations, government, philanthropic trusts and foundations, cultural organisations and independent creative practitioners.

Jade has worked in government (local, state and federal) and not for profit sectors with experience in regional, remote and metropolitan locations in Australia and SE Asia. Previous roles include: Head of Industry Development, Australia Council for the Arts, Director and CEO, Executive Director, Public Affairs, cohealth, Footscray Community Arts Centre, Team Leader, Arts and Cultural Development, Brisbane City Council.

Whilst she has held a number of leadership roles in the sector, she is primarily known and respected for her skills and expertise in strategy development, governance capabilities and her commitment to collaboration, cultural leadership and advocacy in championing diversity and access. She is the curator and editor for The Relationship is the Project, a book about how to engage effectively with communities.

Michael McMahon (he/him)

is a Melbourne based lawyer and screen content producer. He was a founder and first Executive Chairman of Matchbox Pictures Pty Ltd. And currently a Director and Executive Producer of Big and Little Films Pty Ltd.

Michael has held a wide range of management and legal positions as well as board appointments, including Screen Tasmania and Film Victoria. He has also held academic positions at the University of South Australia and Swinburne University of Technology where he is an Adjunct Professor. He was presented with the Lifetime Achievement Award by Screen Producers Australia in 2018.

His documentary production and executive producing credits include Sadness, Wildness, the Anatomy Series, Next Stop Hollywood and The Coming Back Out Again Ball. His television drama credits include Call Me Mum, Saved, The Slap and series 1 of Nowhere Boys. He was an executive produced the Netflix series Clickbait. Feature film credits are The Home Song Stories, Lou, Cut Snake and Ali’s Wedding.

He is executive producing the SBS Screen Australia Digital Original Night Bloomers.

Angharad Wynne-Jones (she/her)

is Cymry (Welsh) Australian and lives on the unceded lands of the Kulin Nation in Narrm (Melbourne). She is Head of Audience Engagement at the State Library Victoria, leading a team of producers, programmers and curators to create large scale exhibitions, public programs and events, business entrepreneurship support and education programs that support community knowledge building. Previously she was Head of Creative Engagement at Arts Centre Melbourne (2017-2021), supporting the inaugural Alter State – a disability led performing arts festival alongside a host of large scale public and participative performance programs. From 2011-2017 she was Artistic Director at Arts House, City of Melbourne, a contemporary arts production house where she initiated Refuge – a five year action research into the role of cultural institutions and communities in responding to the impacts of climate impacts and disasters. She was Founder Director of TippingPoint Australia (2010-2019), co-designed and delivered NIDA’s MFA Cultural Leadership course 2015-2018. She is a member of the Centre for Reworlding collective, Board member of All The Queens Men and Chair of Aphids.

Steven Weir (he/him)

is originally from Scotland and his accent has mellowed substantially after living in Australia since 2000. Steven has had a long and diverse career in community engagement, community development and placemaking, working across a number of sectors including state and local government, consultancy and corporate. His recent experience includes roles in the City of Melbourne, Melbourne Water, the Victorian Public Sector, and most recently with the property company Lendlease.

Outside of his ‘day job’, Steven also volunteers as part of the board of the community organisation Kensington Neighbourhood House (recipient of the Melbourne Award for Community in 2022). He actively participates in Melbourne’s LGBTIQ+ community through promoting a number of successful club nights and as a DJ. He lives in Brunswick with his husband Jason and his precious turntables and vinyl collection.

Cara Kirkwood (she/her)

is a national advocate and influencer for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people, art, culture and creative industries. Having worked across diverse geographical and industry contexts Cara has honed her skills as a cultural strategist. Currently Cara is the the Head of First Nations Engagement at National Gallery in Canberra. Previous Roles include Head of Combined Arts with the Australia Council, Cara has previously worked with the Department of Parliamentary Services, National Gallery of Australia, AGSA’s Tarnanthi Festival and Desart in Mparntwe (Alice Springs).

Cara is a diplomat and an instigator for change through her interest in transforming existing western ways of thinking into contemporary and responsive initiatives, strategies and structures. The culmination of this work saw Cara become the first, First Nations person appointed to the board of the Art Gallery of South Australia and even more recently be awarded a Churchill Fellowship.

Sara Strachan (they/them) Melbourne

Sara Strachan is a proud Non Binary, Bi+ advocate, artist and health worker. Simultaneously fierce and anxious, they wear many hats to combat inequalities within LGBTIA+ communities. On any given day you can see Sara working with ZBGC running training, creating content and admiring Starlady’s latest fashion. Or they could be hosting the monthly LGBTI Elders Dance Club with All the Queens Men. Sara also runs emerging not for profit Qrise, which is dedicated to eliminating mental health inequalities among LGBTQIA+ young Australians through mental health training, youth development programs and peer support

Lachie Alexander (he/him) Melbourne

Lachie is a dynamic individual with a diverse range of passions. As a ballroom dancer, he gracefully glides across the floor, exuding elegance and precision. When he’s not perfecting his dance moves, Lachie can be found in his workshop, adeptly repairing computers and solving technical challenges with ease.

His artistic flair extends beyond the dance floor, as Lachie enthusiastically participates in community theatre productions. Whether taking centre stage or working behind the scenes, he brings creativity and dedication to every project. 

Lachie Alexander’s life is a tapestry of talents, combining his love for dance, technology, theatre, and gaming into a captivating mosaic that enriches his own life and those around him.

Dan Goronszy (she/her) Melbourne

Dan Goronszy creates unusual arts experiences that provoke wonder and conversation about humanity, towards social change. She is a multi- disciplinary artist and collaborator drawing on participatory installation, live art, puppetry, public art, social practice and visual theatre. She is keenly interested in relationships between form, content and the audience/participants experience. In children’s works she pursues flipping norms of child/adult power dynamics. Furthermore, exploring and sharing alternative narratives of people and place, beyond the obvious or expected, is the cornerstone to her practice.

Dan co-founded Hello Togetherness with Alex Desebrock (WA) making big thinking arts experiences for households to make connections to their neighbours. She is a long-time company member of Melbourne’s Polyglot Theatre, Creative Producer with RMIT Creative Communities, and Production Manager with Flow Deaf Arts Festival Australia. In 2018 She graduated Vice Chancellors Awards List with Masters Degree, Art in Public Space (RMIT), and sits on LGA Public Arts Advisory Panels.

Daniel Newell (they/them) Melbourne

DANIEL NEWELL (Dandrogny) is a performance artist, educator & graduate of the Victorian College of the Arts. Cat- walking the fine-eyeliner of the pop cultural/political, Daniel’s work can be defined as creatively chaotic & cathartic. Having performed in over 20 countries, highlights include ABC’s – You Can’t Ask That, Melbourne Festival, Melbourne Museum, Melbourne Science Gallery, Dance Massive, Rising Festival, Roola Boola Childrens Arts Festival, Arts House, Sydney Opera House, Bollywood Film, SWAY, All The Queens Men, Shelley Lasica, Deanne Butterworth, Joel Bray, Rafael Bonachela & Kylie Minogue. Through dance/experimental performance art Daniel has created solid queer prominence with character DANDROGYNY. ‘Drodge’ at their core playfully calls us to notice the performed nature of hyper masculinity & its toxic implications. Recent resident at Chunky Move & Warrnambool Art Gallery, Footscray City College (Creative Workers in Schools) & Abbotsford Convent (Pivot 2): Daniel also teaches drama/embodiment for St Martins Youth & Physical Theatre at UniMelb (VCA). www.dandrogyny.com

Beau-Luke Colton (He/him) Melbourne

Beau-Luke has a degree in Nutrition and Psychology so understands the value of good food! It is his privilege and joy to organise the catering for the LGBTQ Elders Dance Club and other AQTM events, a task he takes seriously to provide patrons and guests with healthy options.