This is your personal invitation to Garage Rocks...a festive get together. As the year draws to a close we will be celebrating in style at our very own intimate garage space. This will be an extravaganza like no other. An event to celebrate our members, sponsors, partners and community! We thank you for all that you do and we love having you on board. This is going to be the coolest chrimbo party in town!

Included in the evening:

🌟 Speed networking ran by Conscious dating Co
🌟 Festive nibbles & drinks sponsored by Dan Murphy & Young Henry's
🌟 Band (Ben & Lucas Mahon)
🌟 Performance by Kings of Joy
🌟 Art exhibition & speed painter Sarah Rowan
🌟 Upcycling Secret Santa

Every one is welcome and we are raising money for Wayside Chapel via donate a plate. Why not bring your team? This feel good event will leave you and your team all warm and fuzzy as you connect with amazing humans!

The event will take place on Wednesday 30th November at 6:00 - 9:00 pm at The Working Kind Collective in Stanmore.

There are limited spaces, so be quick as we know this is going to be a popular one.

Entertainment

Meet Ben and Lucas Mahon. They have spent most of their lives playing and performing in bands, and from that have gained a lot of experience!

Some of their most notable performances include:

- Hope Estate for Hope Rocks

- Enmore Theatre for Variety Salutes Elton John

- Oxford Art Factory for UsFest

- Multiple performances for the Variety Children’s Charity, including Variety Salutes Elton John and the Variety Charity Ball

- Multiple locations across the East Coast of the US- Parkes Elvis Festival (multiple years)

- Hayden Orpheum for a Grease tribute

Additionally, both Ben and Lucas are studying a Bachelor’s of Music at the Australian Institute of Music.

Sarah Rowan

Sarah Rowan is an artist and thought-leader who empowers individuals and organisations to ignite a better future through creativity. As one of Australia’s top Speed Painters, she has lived and breathed the dynamic process of transformation for over 20 years, turning blank walls and cavasses into thought-provoking pieces of art, with limited time and often in front of a live audience. Merging her artistic talent with her passion for public speaking, Sarah has reimagined the role of the artist, pushing the boundaries of a studio-based pursuit into a trail-blazing performance genre that challenges the limitations of time and space. Sarah will be exhibiting her paintings for sale and also doing what she does best - speed painting!

This year has been the most honest, vuln

Kings of Joy

Kings of Joy is a community initiative that gives first-time Drag Kings the opportunity to perform in drag and lean into the masculine in a supported, group environment. The values that Kings of Joy uphold are joy, fun, inclusivity, anti-racism, non-toxic masculinity, a celebration of all gender expressions, and what’s possible when we encourage and support each other.

Kings of Joy is the brainchild of Danica Lani and was born out of her spouse, Chris McAllister’s performance event for trans and gender-diverse artists, Queers of Joy. Danica and Chris met in a Drag King group and both experienced first-hand the fun, friendship, and sheer elation of performing on stage with a Drag King crew. They wanted to give this experience away to other people in the queer community.

Queers of Joy began in December 2020 and is now a bi-monthly show co-produced by Chris, Malaika Mfalme, and Gabriel Angel. The debut Kings of Joy group was offered a free experience for first-time Drag Kings to learn a routine together and perform on stage at Queers of Joy. Queers of Joy pay Danica Lani a small fee to run this program, aptly named, The Kings of Joy Gold Stars (ie. first-timers, never done drag before. Gold Star is a lesbian reference for someone who has only ever slept with other women.)

Since then the Kings of Joy Gold Stars program has developed into a full 6-week program. Each participant is a first-time Drag King and many have never performed on stage before. Together, they go from zero to hero to invent a Drag King name, backstory, persona, costume, and makeup, and perform together in a group. This process has taken individual Drag Kings 3+ years to do by themselves.

After community consultation, the Kings of Joy Pay It Forward program was implemented to keep Kings of Joy Gold Stars barrier-free for all members of the queer community and to create a sustainable model for continuing the program. It costs $300 for each participant to go through the program. No one is required to pay and all are given the choice. They can pay at the beginning of the program or pay it forward for a future King at the end of their program, or simply receive a paid-for place.

After completing the Kings of Joy Gold Stars, many of these emerging Drag Kings want to continue their journey. Some go on to become solo Drag Kings independently, some have done solo Drag King coaching with Danica and some prefer the group environment. Danica created the Kings of Joy All Stars, a 12-week program to deepen the Drag King persona, to fulfil this need. This is a paid program with pay-in-full or payment plan options. Originally, participants performed at her Showcase, in parallel with her Diva dance group ‘Show Ponies’. This has now been rebranded as Drag Kingdom where many of the Kings of Joy Gold Star groups perform on the same night.

To date (19/11/22), Danica has facilitated 14 Kings of Joy groups (including the All-Stars and a group done online from Melbourne) and mentored and produced 64 brand-new, first-time Drag Kings.

Thank you to the sponsors of this event:

The Working Kind Collective

Young Henry's

Dan Murphy's

Thank you to all the businesses that have supported us over the last 12 months, and thank you to our key ongoing sponsors.