In June 2014, Sumner and a few close friends co-founded Escape, a monthly event in Orlando that would go on to receive multiple nominations for Best Club Night by Orlando Weekly. This platform provided Sumner with the perfect space to experiment with performance as pre-shows before the main events each month.

Exposure to influential performance artists during his time in school further inspired Sumner to expand beyond the Escape routine. His first year with IMMERSE came in 2015, where his mobile installation/performance Push earned him the position of Co-Chair of Emerging and Performance Artists. He has continued to collaborate with Creative City Project every year since.

During a short hiatus from Escape, Sumner teamed up with underground horror drag collective The Haüs of Black to create Oddities, a monthly event that leaned into performance art and queer culture. This collaboration marked Sumner’s first partnership with visual FX artist Ricky Johnson. Both IMMERSE and Oddities played a pivotal role in shaping Sumner’s distinctive performance style, establishing it as something that extended far beyond his Escape performances.