Salut to Santuary

Written By Johnny Smith

In May of 2023 I was presented with an opportunity to produce a weekly club drag event in the Universal Superclub. Alongside Licensee Dillon Shaw and Production Manager Dave Stevenson, we came together to create Sanctuary - a weekly club event where anyone could come and celebrate queerness without judgement.

Almost three years later that night that we created had seen some of Australia’s best DJ’s and Divas hit its stages. But there was always going to come a time that we had to move forward and look at new models to keep things fresh and exciting. and that time has come!

So here’s the deal…

  • This Friday will be out final weekly Sanctuary. We’ve organised an all star cast of Aussie drag performers all night, and some absolutely FIERCE DJ’s.

  • This however is NOT the end of Sanctuary - Sanctuary will move to a monthly event, and share Fridays with a diverse range of queer parties. We are almost ready to announce these exciting new partnerships so keep your ear to the ground.

  • Showstopping drag and top notch DJ talent are still on the forefront of our scheduling.

This new Friday Superclub model will mean you get the best Queer Sydney Parties all in one place.

However this will mean that the frequency of Sanctuary will reduce significantly. I want to thank everyone that helped make Sanctuary what it was. Tina Bikki, Coco Jumbo & Keira Billie for being your Sanctuary sitters every week. Thank you to every DJ, and performer that graced our stages, and to everyone that put together some of the fiercest production shows Sydney has ever seen!

Thank you to our production team, James, Jimmy & Dave. And thank you to the team at GAYM who came on board last year and helped build and grow Sanctuary into the fierce club event it became. Learning from the best promotors in Sydney has been so special and rewarding and I look forward to what we do next!

Thank you to our door staff, bar team, security and most importantly - our guests who turned it out every week… you made it special.

We are excited, we are looking forward and cannot wait to show you what more we are working on!

Be sure to pop in this Friday from 9pm for our FINAL WEEKLY SANCTUARY!

Johnny Smith
Venue Manager
Universal Sydney

Johnny Smith
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Remembering Maxi Shield