High Concept Labs

In Fall 2025, @chicagodancemakersforum and @highconceptlabs —two organizations committed to supporting experimental performance and artistic practice—surveyed Chicago’s performance communities. This was a quick check-in of local artists in response to recent and ongoing shifts and losses within Chicago’s performance ecosystem. We’re now ready to share what we learned! The Chicago Performance Community Survey Survey Report is a summary of the data and commentary collected from 93 artists including dancers, theater artists, musicians, creative producers, art educators, performance artists and more–including many working experimentally and across disciplines. We invite you to read the report (link in bio) and to save the date for a Chicago Performance Community Convening on Saturday April 18th at @constellationchicago + @comradechicago where we’ll dig into the themes and concerns voiced through the survey, and seek creative solutions for what should happen next. We hope you can join us!

@highconceptlabs has been an active part of the Chicago arts community for 16 years and counting. Throughout various transitions, our mission has stayed the same. As a laboratory for experimental and genre-defying artistic projects, we strive for a vibrant, artist-driven ecosystem that is equitable, inclusive, wide-reaching, and allows for experimentation. Whether you are new to our community or have been with us since day one, our values and commitment to the arts community remain the same. To learn more about who we are and what we do, check out highconceptlabs.org.

High Concept Labs is hiring! The Executive Director, in partnership with the Board of Directors, works towards HCL’s mission by setting and executing its strategic vision and planning. Are you a visionary, equity-driven leader who is passionate about creative process and experimental performance? Are you excited to build on HCL’s 16 years as a laboratory for experimental, conceptual, and genre-defying artistic projects? Do you have experience within the performing arts, in regards to both strategy and execution? Learn more about the position and how to apply at highconceptlabs.org/executivedirector [link in bio].

Thank you to everyone who joined the Chicago Performance Community Convening last weekend (and if you didn’t make it, we missed you and are grateful for your interest). It was wonderful to spend time in community and be part of an exchange of ideas. Thank you for your contributions in all their forms - inspiration, inquiry, instigation, and beyond. We are now working on organizing takeaways from the gathering to share out–anticipated by the end of May. Also, a huge thank you to facilitators @alyshamonique , @theamtraklor , and @samthousand for creating such a thoughtful container for these conversations and leading with care. Thank you to @maggliz for supporting the virtual space. Thank you also to @constellationchicago + @comradechicago for hosting, @fivecornersbev for yummy drinks, and @walderfoundation for support. Photos by Ry Thiel.

THIS SUNDAY: Art/Access Lab: Know Your Rights Sunday, April 26 2:00-4:00pm 📍in person at @expstation 👨🏿‍💻or RSVP for the zoom link Details in bio DM us to volunteer! Presented by @unfoldingdisabilityfutures and @highconceptlabs In Partnership with @accessliving and @cuerposjustificados With special guests: @christopherramos @werdmvmnt @genevieveramos.art How can we know—and claim—our rights related to disability, immigration, free speech? How can we use our creative practice to navigate, share, and defend these rights? This community gathering invites artists with disabilities and allies to learn about our rights and use art to help defend these rights for ourselves and others. Blending practical information with artistic activities, this interactive event aims to build solidarity and create resources to share with neighbors, friends, and colleagues. Chris Ramos of Access Living will guide us through our rights, offering special attention to the intersection of disability rights and immigration rights, and how these rights apply to disabled immigrants who encounter immigration officials. Then we’ll invite attendees to create mini-zines for community distribution, contribute to a collaborative artwork, and to screenprint and embellish protest posters. Virtual participants can contribute to a digital zine via Canva or join a breakout room to discuss and share accessible mutual aid efforts and resources. Through these activities, we strengthen our ability to protect ourselves, support our community, and participate in collective resistance.

Meet William Estrada! @werdmvmnt This weekend, William is joining @cuerposjustificados , @unfoldingdisabilityfutures , @highconceptlabs and @accessliving in presenting: Art/Access Lab: Know Your Rights Sunday, April 26 2:00-4:00pm 📍in person at @expstation 👨🏿‍💻or RSVP for the zoom link Details in bio DM us to volunteer! William Estrada’s approach to art and teaching is centered on collaborative discourse. His roles as a teacher, artist, and cultural worker are intertwined. He draws on academic literature, educational settings, and personal interactions to report, record, reveal, and amplify lived experiences, aiming to foster radical imagination. Estrada's current research focuses on developing community-based, culturally relevant projects that critically examine power structures related to race, the economy, and cultural access in contested spaces. He aspires to envision and work toward a more equitable collective future through intentional, sustained collaborations with individuals in their communities. William Estrada is the printmaker behind the Mobile Street Art Cart. Inspired by ice cream and food vendor carts in Little Village. The Mobile Street Art Cart creates temporary space for talking about art and its impact on our communities, and shares resources to support artmaking and community-building. Following our disability, immigration, and free speech Know Your Rights workshop (presented by @christopherramos of @accessliving ), join William Estrada in creating and embellishing screenprinted protest posters! #HybridEvent #AccessYourWay #DisabilityArts #Screenprinting #CommunityPrintmaking

Meet Cuerpos Justificados! @cuerposjustificados , @unfoldingdisabilityfutures , @highconceptlabs , and @accessliving are all partnering to present the next Art/Access Lab. Cuerpos Justificados, which translates to "Justified Bodies", is a disability-lead grassroots artist collective featuring intentional, innovative, and boundary-defying disability works that make political statements. Cuerpos Justificados (CJ)integrates community participation and collaboration. Mixed ability organizing, love, vulnerability, and nonhierarchical decision-making from a crip-POC-feminist lens lays the groundwork for their collective. They value ✨CRIPISTEMOLOGY ✨, an approach that centers disabled ways of knowing and being in the world. Join CJ co-founder, Genevieve Ramos (@genevieveramos.art ), in creating mini-zines for community distribution and contributing to a collaborative artwork. Art/Access Lab: Know Your Rights Sunday, April 26 2:00-4:00pm 📍in person at @expstation 👩🏻‍💻or RSVP for the zoom link w/ @christopherramos and @werdmvmnt Details in bio #HybridEvent #AccessYourWay #DisabilityArts #cripistemology

LAST CALL: JOIN US FOR THE CHICAGO PERFORMANCE COMMUNITY CONVENING 🗓️Saturday, April 18 11:00am to 3:00pm 📍In person at @constellationchicago + @comradechicago (3111 N Western Ave) 📣OR VIRTUALLY! (RSVP for zoom link) Artists, performance makers, and change makers are invited to participate in this discussion to see how we can develop better, stronger, and more sustainable opportunities for performing artists together. Facilitation by the incredible team of @alyshamonique , @theamtraklor , and @samthousand , with zoom facilitation by @maggliz . Details & RSVP at link in bio This convening is organized and presented by @chicagodancemakersforum and @highconceptlabs —two organizations committed to supporting experimental performance and artistic practice, with support from @walderfoundation .

We are gearing up for Saturday’s Convening (don’t forget to RSVP!), and are looking for volunteers to help the day running smoothly. We can use a few extra hands for set-up, during the event, and post-event wrap up. So if you’d like to lend a hand for a portion of the day, please reach out to Joanna Furnans at [email protected]. Hope to see you there! @constellationchicago @comradechicago @chicagodancemakersforum @highconceptlabs @alyshamonique @theamtraklor @samthousand

Please join us for a casual drink this Sunday, April 19th at 8pm at @woodlawntapchiago to meet and greet with the HCL Board of Directors! RSVP via Upcoming Events link in bio 📍 1172 E 55th St, Chicago, IL 60615 We are in the process of expanding our board. We seek strategic thinkers, arts advocates, and representatives from a variety of professional fields and backgrounds to support our mission and help shape our future. Want to see the work of HCL in action? Kick off the evening at @definitiontheatre at 7pm where @carissa_explains_most is premiering 𝘛𝘩𝘳𝘪𝘷𝘢𝘭, a new sonic and performance based work developed while in residency with @highconceptlabs .

Who Is This For— And Who is Missing? Equity and access are two prevailing concerns of the 93 artists who completed the 2025 Chicago performance community survey. Respondents commented again and again on funding inequities, favoritism, scarcity, and outdated systems. What will shift who is able to participate in Chicago’s multifaceted performance communities? What resources can we share and what actions do we need to advocate for? Join us on Saturday, April 18th at @constellationchicago + @comradechicago (or zoom in to the conversation) as we grapple with challenging and uncomfortable truths, and seek better ways forward. See link in bio for all the details and to RSVP.

In the Chicago performance community survey (Fall 2025), @chicagodancemakersforum and @highconceptlabs asked what factors are causing concern about the current moment and/or future of Chicago’s performance ecosystem. A strong through line was uncertainty about the physical spaces for making, presenting, and advocating for experimental performance. Where Can This Work Actually Live? Join us on Saturday, April 18th at @constellationchicago + @comradechicago (or zoom in to the conversation) as we ask the question: Where can this work live now, and what could we build together? See link in bio for all the details and to RSVP.