About

Tristan Meecham (he/him) Artistic Director

is an Queer Artist and Performer who facilitates creative frameworks that enable social transformation; connecting community, audience and artists together in events that transcend the everyday. Together with Bec Reid, he is the Director of All The Queens Men.

All The Queens Men is an independent Australian arts company creating contemporary performance in collaboration with communities of all shapes, sizes, and identities. A champion of ‘difference’, All The Queens Men partner with all tiers of government and cross-sectorial industry partners, working at the intersections of contemporary art, health, ageing, LGBTIQ+ equality, young people and physical activity.

Tristan has become a leading creative voice within the LGBTIQ+ community nationally and internationally, specifically for championing the rights of LGBTIQ+ older people. Through a relational engagement practice, Tristan co-designs creative projects that enable communities improved access, not only to the arts experiences, but broader community health and social services. His commitment to equity, connection, and social justice frequently finds expression through projects such as the multi award-winning The Coming Back Out Ball, LGBTIQ+ Elders Dance Club and Digital Dance Club.

Tristan’s projects are presented by leading cultural institutions around the world including: Ansan Street Arts Festival (South Korea), ANTI Contemporary Arts Festival (Finland), Arts Centre Melbourne, Arts House (Melbourne), Bleach Festival (Gold Coast), Brisbane Powerhouse, Darwin Festival, Galway Capital of Culture 2020, Salisbury International Arts Festival, Sydney Festival, National Theatre of Scotland / Luminate Festival / Eden Court, Taipei Arts Festival and West Kowloon Cultural District (Hong Kong), to name a few.

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). From 2010-2014, Tristan was an Artistic Associate and the Philanthropic Manager of Aphids.

Tristan is the 2023 Australia Council Fellowship recipient. Previously, he was awarded the VCA George Fairfax Memorial Award, British Council Fellowship and 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.

Tristan was the Creator / Producer of The Coming Back Out Ball Movie, which closed MIFF 2018 and is currently on Netflix. He has a scripted TV project in development with Magpie Pictures and a documentary series in development with Artemis Media. He is working with Georgie Pym (Dirty Films) and Kirsty Hunter (StoryHunter) to create a new series for the US.

Tristan is the 2023 Australia Council Fellowship recipient. Previously, he was awarded the VCA George Fairfax Memorial Award, British Council Fellowship and 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.

Accolades: 2021 Sidney Myer Performing Arts Award, 2020 Melbourne Award, 2017 and 2018 VicHealth Award, 2018 Green Room Award (Community Collaboration), 2018 Globe Award, Finalist 2018 Melbourne Awards, Finalist 2018 LGBTI Awards, Finalist 2019 ANTI International Live Art Prize.

Bec Reid (she/her) Artistic Director

is a third-culture kid and 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 Baggerson, Bec is a co-Founder of Everybody NOW!

To date, Bec has received two Fellowships and one Bursary from Creative Australia (formerly Australia Council for the Arts) Playking Foundation’s Renewal Fellowship and the Ian Potter Trust. Since 2001, she has continually served across Arts Boards and been mentoring 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)

Jade 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.

Deputy Chair: Steven Weir (he/ him)

Steven 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.

Secretary: Peta Murray (she/ her)

Peta is a late blooming academic, and sometime theatre-maker, playwright and dramaturg. Best known for Wallflowering, other plays include the AWGIE-winning The Keys to the Animal Room, and Salt, winner of the Victorian Premier’s Award for Drama. Queerer projects include Things That Fall Over: An Anti-Musical of a Novel inside a Reading of a Play, with Footnotes and Oratorio-as-Coda, and Ware with A Translucent Body, a triptych on ageing and the creative life course. A Lecturer in Creative Writing at RMIT University, Peta’s research focuses on art-based activism, and secular rituals for navigating crises in times of change. She specialises in queer and innovative approaches to artistic cross-pollination based on “radical joy”, associative leaps and communal meaning-making.

Treasurer: Bid Juhanson (she/ her)

Bid is a Financial Controller who has over 25 years of expertise in the film, television and music industries. Raised in a profoundly artistic family who work in various capacities across the Australian film industry, Bid briefly rebelled and explored the path of accountancy before finding her way back and true calling within the entertainment industry.

For the last decade, Bid has worked independently as a highly sought after Financial Controller for some of the industry’s leading organisations and contractors. This includes: Rabbit, Rumble Studios, Blockhead VFX, Toby Copping Grip Services, Buddy Films, Hibiscus Design and Pariah Productions to name just a few.

Bid’s undeniable strength comes in her unwavering support and dependability; this allows the companies and individuals she works with to feel secure in the knowledge that their backbone is well-supported and enables them the freedom to flourish and nurture fresh artistic endeavours. Bid’s professional success is also aided by her deep love and expansive knowledge of all things culture; she is a fervent supporter of Australia’s live music and film industries and most likely to be found either at a gig or at the movies.

General member: Cara Kirkwood (she/ her)

Cara 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.

General member: Lauren Mullings (she/her)

Lauren is a facilitator, cultural leader, artist and creative director who is committed to cultural change, visibility, and equity in the creative sector. She is currently the CO-CEO and Creative Director at MAV (Multicultural Arts Victoria). She has worked across the public, private and not-for-profit sectors in many capacities over the last twenty years in Australia, Europe, the UK, and SE Asia, producing arts projects, driving strategy and designing high profile campaigns . Through these experiences, and her independent work as a producer, she has connected artists, communities, and stakeholders to create dynamic artistic experiences and culturally adept spaces.

She prides herself on demanding credit and recognition for the many artists whose contributions are overlooked, whilst cultivating efficiencies in anti-oppressive practices that build capacity, promote wellbeing, address inequity and seek community justice. She has worked in partnership with The Wheeler Centre, The Wurundjeri Land Council, Boonwurrung Foundation, State, Local and Federal Governments, The Barbican, BBC, Fringe, RISING Melbourne, City of London, Greenwich + Docklands and Brighton International Festivals and many more, but most values her
relationships with emerging producers, actively integrating her understanding of the issues and challenges they face into her professional practice.

General member: Tristan Meecham (he / him)

Tristan is an Queer Artist and Performer who facilitates creative frameworks that enable social transformation; connecting community, audience and artists together in events that transcend the everyday. Together with Bec Reid, 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). From 2010-2014, Tristan was an Artistic Associate and the Philanthropic Manager of Aphids.

Tristan is the 2023 Australia Council Fellowship recipient. He has also received the VCA George Fairfax Memorial Award, British Council Realise Your Dream Fellowship 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.

General member: Bec Reid (she / her)

Bec Reid (she/her) is a third-culture kid and 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 Baggerson, Bec is a co-Founder of Everybody NOW!

To date, Bec has received two Fellowships and one Bursary from Creative Australia (formerly Australia Council for the Arts) Playking Foundation’s Renewal Fellowship and the Ian Potter Trust. Since 2001, she has continually served across Arts Boards and been mentoring young and emerging Artists both formally and informally.

Bec’s true loves are Staffordshire Bull Terriers, Ceilidhs and Italo Disco.

Sara Strachan (they/them)

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)

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)

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)

aka as 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)

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. 

Brian Lucas (he/him)

is a Brisbane-based performer, choreographer, director, teacher, writer and arts-advocate whose career spans over 35 years. Trained in both dance and theatre, he has a national reputation for creating and performing provocative, powerful and intelligent works that bridge the divide between the two forms. Since 1995, he has created a number of critically and publicly acclaimed full-length solo works including “Underbelly”, “book of revelations”, “Performance Anxiety”, “monster”, “Frightening Livestock” and “De Profundis” (in collaboration with David Fenton).

In addition to his substantial solo practice, Brian has worked with many of Australia’s and the world’s most well-known performance-makers and presenters including Chunky Move, Finucane + Smith, All The Queen’s Men, DV8 Physical Theatre, La Boite Theatre, Metro Arts, Brisbane Powerhouse, NORPA, Pentimento Productions, Blue Roo Theatre, Michelle Heaven, Liz Lea, KAGE Theatre, David Fenton, Clare Dyson, Fran Barbe and Guests, ChamberMade Opera, Circa, Rock’n’Roll Circus, Dance North, Motherboard Productions, The Queensland Ballet, Queensland Theatre Company, Opera Queensland, QL2 Centre for Youth Dance and Expressions Dance Company.

Brian has also taught and lectured at numerous institutions over the past 20 years, including QUT, University of Canberra, Griffith University, Southbank Institute, Brisbane Academy of Music Theatre, and the Aboriginal Centre of Performing Arts

Leah Shelton (she / her)

creates stylized, guttural, renegade feminist work soaked in cult references and dark humour. Her work has taken her from the glamour of Las Vegas to the back streets of Kings Cross, from rigorous training in Japan to live art festivals in New York.

As a solo artist, Leah has played on and off West End in London. She has graced the cabaret stages of La Clique, Little Death Club, Vegas Nocturne and Jonny Woo’s UnRoyal Variety Show. Her first solo work, ‘Terror Australis’, received numerous awards and toured Australia and France. Leah’s second solo work, ‘Bitch On Heat’, directed by UK Performance Art luminary Ursula Martinez, has toured to major festivals in Australia and Soho Theatre London to critical acclaim and standing ovations.

With Lisa Fa’alafi, Leah is Co-Director of artist collective Polytoxic, creating hyper-visual works underpinned by diversity and collaboration. Polytoxic have presented work at PS122’s COIL Festival NYC, Harbourfront Centre Canada, WanSmolbag Vanuatu, Sydney Opera House, Darwin Festival, Brisbane Festival, APAM, Bleach*, Enlighten, ArtsHouse Melbourne, Ten Days on the Island, Brisbane Powerhouse and QPAC.

Originally dance-trained, Leah has a diverse performance background including over ten years training in the Suzuki Actor Training Method with Frank Theatre (Brisbane, AU), Suzuki Company of Toga (Toga / Shizuoka, Japan) and SITI Company (New York, USA).

Nathan Stoneham (he / him)

is a community and cultural development artist who has been creating contemporary, socially engaged arts processes and performances with communities across Australia and the Asia Pacific region for fifteen years. He is a recipient of the Australia Council for the Art’s Kirk Robson Award, the Brisbane City Council Lord Mayors Artist Fellowship, and has been an Australian Youth Ambassador for Development. He holds a Bachelor of Creative Industries (drama and music), a Bachelor or Education, and a Social Work Masters. Nathan’s practice explores transcultural and queer approaches to making art and friends, and brings people together to collaborate on new ways of being together. As well as facilitating creative shared experiences, he’s currently working on three Australian/Korean collaborations; an inclusive digital arts project, a children’s picture book, and a musical screenplay.

Sophiaan Bin Subhan / Chinta Woo-Allcock (

Multi-award winning Brisbane drag royalty Chinta Woo-Allcock has been performing to audiences both internationally and in Australia for more than a decade. With a mission to add diversity in the local drag queen community and raise visibility of people of colour (PoC) performers in Brisbane, Chinta debuted in 2009 in an annual beauty pageant battle ground for performers all over Queensland at The Sportsman Hotel in 2009.

As a PoC and pro feminist performer, Chinta is aware of the messages she shares with he audience, even when the acts are perceived as ‘frivolous’. Throughout her career, Chinta has performed with Hot Brown Honeys and Polytoxic, performers who share the same values as her. Chinta is known for her advocacy work for the LGBTIQ+ community and has given time to Queensland Council LGBTI Health (then, Queensland AIDS Council) and Open Doors, among other organisations in Queensland. Chinta has won all five pageants she entered including Miss Sportsman Hotel 2010, Miss Gay Australia 2011 and
the first ever winner of the Melt Pageant, organised by Brisbane Pride Festival in 2016.

Beyond the glamourous persona, Chinta is happily married with two sons, an academic specialising in the discourses around language, culture and identity and, a learning and teaching consultant supporting other academics in developing inclusive, accessible and compassionate teaching pedagogies in synchronous and asynchronous spaces in a Queensland university.

Tom Ponissi (he/him/his)

Tom Ponissi (he/him/his) volunteers with All The Queens Men at the Melbourne LGBTIQ+ Elders Dance Club. He is a Law/Global studies student and is also a committed volunteer with the Jesuit Social Services (JSS) working with the refugee and migrant settlement team. Tom has refined his work with diverse communities through undertaking training in sensitive areas such as trauma, child safety, professional boundaries, and inclusivity. In 2019, he received the Centre for Multicultural Youth’s ‘Volunteer Under 25’ award for his work with JSS.