Shandy Party founder & DJ Sweaty Baby
Thomas Parer is a creative producer, DJ (under the alias ‘Sweaty Baby’), and community lawyer living in Magan-djin (Brisbane). He’s best known for being the creator and producer of queer dance party, Shandy, which was started to create a space for queers in Meanjin to nourish themselves and find joy.
Shandy is a dance party run by and for the queer community in Magand-djin/Brisbane, featuring artists from across a range of disciplines, cultural backgrounds and mediums, including drag, burlesque, theatre, live music, DJing, visual art, and film. You can find it bursting forth with exuberance all over town; whether it’s a lube wrestling event at The Tivoli, public pool pop-ups, takeovers at Festivals like Tropical Fruits. With its distinctly Brisbane flavour, more and more visitors are flocking to experience the warm, welcoming, and unpretentious embrace of a Shandy.
When he’s not driving dancefloors wild with his sonic selections and producing some of the city’s sexiest queer parties, you’ll find him doling out legal advice at QLD based community legal centre, Basic Rights Queensland (BRQ). BRQ provides free legal help to Queenslanders around employment law matters, discrimination, and social security/Centrelink.
Recognised by Creative Futures (2025) as a “creative powerhouse,” Buddy Malbasias is a Bukidnon-born Filipino-Australian independent dance artist, choreographer and performer working at the intersection of contemporary performance, w_acking and multidisciplinary collaboration. Grounded in culturally engaged practice, his work invites audiences into conversations around belonging, queerness and the ways our bodies carry home.
Buddy is an active member of the Australian w_acking community — a queer dance form born from the Black and Latinx LGBTQIA+ communities of 1970s Los Angeles.
In 2025, he premiered his debut work, Bahala/o, presented by Metro Arts, receiving a StageBuzz Award for Best Sound Design and a five-star review (Stagedoor Podcast). He is currently developing his new work, BIRADAi.
A 2026 Lord Mayor Creative Fellowship recipient, Buddy’s practice has been supported through national and international residencies. He has worked with organisations including Studio1, Balay Kasamtangan, Rakarsa Foundation, Queensland Museum, Ars Electronica, Stephanie Lake Company and Australasian Dance Collective. Buddy is part of a new generation of artists shaping Queensland’s evolving contemporary performance landscape.
Image by Janna Imperial
Gayleen Tuckwood
Very Serious Artist Micah Rustichelli is Shandy’s patron saint of all things pleasure, pain and paint. Combining clowning, performance and art, Rustichelli delights audiences from dungeons to dancefloors with the queer filth, fantasy and what-the-fuck-is-he-doing that they deserve. From endurance feats of physical limits to fetish pig glam punk, their manifesto is simple: FREAK IT.
Expect wet mess, white ruffles and very serious art.
Website https: micahrustichelli.com
VOiiiD Collective is a force of creative chaos, empowering independent artists to unleash raw, vulnerable, and unforgettable stories. Fusing dance, sound, wearable art, and visual theatre, we create hyper-sensory experiences that challenge perspectives and shake realities. Built with sustainability and inclusivity at every step, each creation is a recycled rebellion, 80% trash and 100% unapologetic.
Website: voiiidcollective.com.au
Image by Terry Minion
Politician. Sometimes DJ. Full-time believer in good grooves, hot house and deeply unnecessary extended edits. Firmly of the view that sometimes the best policy is to share a little joy and have a dance.
Neesha Alexander, is a trailblazing figure in the Ballroom scene. As a club night promoter for QTBIPOC and a DJ, Neesha has played a significant role in shaping the underground communities in Meanjin.
Hailing from the influential House of Alexander and known as the ‘DJ of the Year’ at Queens Ball 2023, Neesha has supported renowned international artists like Jyoty, Partiboi69, Cakes Da Killa, Suchi, and UNIIQU3.
Neesha’s performances are a fusion of her traditional culture and a deep love for dance, music, and the club scene. She has established herself as a cutting-edge performer who embodies the essence of her heritage while pushing boundaries in the local and national music scene.
Wake it up Shandy, TULLIO’s arrived! TULLIO is genre-blending selector known for high-energy sets that move effortlessly between electronic, left field and bass-driven rhythms. An impossibly diverse and on the pulse selector that can do it all. Based in Magandjin, Brisbane, TULLIO has become a staple of the city’s underground scene, supporting international acts such as Machinedrum, BASHKKA, Nasthug and Suku Bratz.
Acknowledgements
Metro Arts’ 2026 program is supported by the Australian Government through Creative Australia, its funding and advisory body. Metro Arts is supported by the Queensland Government through Arts Queensland and the Visual Art, Craft and Design Framework, an initiative of the Australian, state and territory governments.
