High Concept Labs

08/26/2026

Please help us welcome Elise Butterfield as HCL's Executive Director!

Elise Butterfield is a curator and arts administrator working at the intersection of performance and exhibition-making. Originally trained as a dancer, she has spent over a decade supporting artists and organizations in the creation and development of new work. Most recently, Butterfield served as Curator of Exhibitions at the Chicago Cultural Center through the City of Chicago's Department of Cultural Affairs and Special Events (DCASE), where she curated multiple exhibitions and developed and oversaw the 2024 Exhibition Performance Residencies, curating Khecari's project "Tend".

Before joining DCASE, Butterfield was Gallery and Programs Director at Art Access, an arts and disability nonprofit in Salt Lake City, where she helped to start a statewide cultural accessibility program. This experience informs her commitment to continuing HCL's access and inclusion work.

Butterfield will assume the role of Executive Director in early September 2026.

https://buff.ly/ySN57vu

High Concept Labs (HCL), a Chicago-based arts service organization and artist incubator, announced today the appointment of Elise Butterfield as Executive Director.

08/25/2026

Thanks to our sponsor, Metric Coffee Roasters (Metric), who will be providing some of the many amazing prizes at our upcoming Bowling Fundraiser! A chance to win a bag of this delicious coffee is just one more reason to come bowl with Comfort Station Logan Square, Rough House Puppet Arts, Homeroom and High Concept Labs. We’ll see you on Sunday, August 30th from 2-6pm for all sorts of fun, so tag your team and get ready to roll!

📸 Image from Metric Coffee page

08/20/2026

📣 Calling all disabled artists and creatives! Are you looking for a safe space to share your work in progress? Are you interested in community feedback and creative support? We’ve got an Open Call opportunity for any artist to present at our Sunday, November 8th, 2026 Art/Access Lab: Open Lab. Check the link in our bio and fill out the interest form to be considered for this opportunity! The submission deadline is Friday, September 18th.

This event will be offered both virtually and in-person, and is intended to be supportive and welcoming for everyone. Artists will be chosen based on their proposals’ relationship to disability art, the feasibility of the work to be presented within the in person or virtual space, and the necessity of the artist to receive feedback from the disability art community on the work in progress to develop and expand their artistic practice and accessibility features within the work.

If you’re primarily interested in attending this free event, check out the event page on our website under Upcoming Events for more information. We’ll see you there on Sunday November 8th, at Experimental Station or on Zoom!

This event is brought to you by Unfolding Disability Futures and High Concept Labs.

08/19/2026

🎳 Did you know that the Fireside Bowl () transformed into a legendary all-ages punk rock hotspot, from the 1990s through the early 2000s? Host of our upcoming Bowling Party fundraiser, the iconic Fireside Bowl has been up and running since 1941. Over the years, the venue has continually evolved and adapted to meet the moment. Whether you’re coming out to bowl, cheer, or simply soak in the history — you’re stepping into a historic location for Chicago culture with a long streak of supporting the arts in unconventional ways.

See you there?

📸 Image Credits:

Slide 1 & 3 - Photo by Rebar A. Rakstad, from WBEZ Chicago article. Image shows a Los Crudos show at the Fireside in 1997.
Slide 2 - Photo from Fireside Bowl website

08/18/2026

Bad at Sports is the Midwest’s largest independent contemporary art podcast & blog. They’ve interviewed hundreds of incredible artists, including Kerry James Marshall, Alex Katz, Wafaa Bilal, Chloë Bass, and Brendan_Fernandes.

Now these art-world troublemakers behind the Bad at Sports podcast are stepping up to the mic to provide live sports commentary at our upcoming Bowling Party! Get ready for play-by-play analysis of gutter balls, strike streaks, and questionable form, all delivered with their signature mix of wit, art-world insight, and side tangents.

🗓️ Sunday, Aug. 30, 2-6pm at Fireside Bowl
🍕 Pizza by LOBO
🎳 Bowling + Spectating + Nonsense encouraged

This Bowling Party supports Comfort Station Logan Square, Rough House Puppet Arts, High Concept Labs and Homeroom, organizations that continually champion Chicago artists. Every strike, spare, and gutter ball helps raise vital funds to keep Chicago’s creative ecosystem thriving! 🔗 Buy tickets at the link in bio.

Bad At Sports Podcasters:

Duncan MacKenzie (Duncan MacKenzie)
Jesse Malmed (Jesse (Malmed))
Ryan Peter Miller (Ryan Peter Miller)
Brian Andrews

08/17/2026

What’s a bowling party without great pizza?

We’re thrilled that our friends at will be feeding our bowlers at our upcoming Bowling Party – a joint fundraiser to support Comfort Station Logan Square, Rough House Puppet Arts, Homeroom and High Concept Labs.

Pizza Lobo’s New York style pizza is a neighborhood favorite, and just a few minutes walk from Fireside Bowl!

Come bowl, cheer, and eat your weight in Pizza Lobo on Sunday, August 30 from 2-6pm.

🔗 Tickets at the link in bio!

08/15/2026

“Archiving Disability,” is almost here! Don’t forget to RSVP at the link in our bio, and don’t miss out on this one of a kind Art/Access Lab! Taking place on August 16th from 2-4pm at Experimental Station (Experimental Station), this event is presented by High Concept Labs (High Concept Labs) and Unfolding Disability Futures (Unfolding Disability Futures).

Three artists working in different ways to engage with, investigate, and create archives will discuss the issues and opportunities they encounter in their practices. We’ll focus especially on what it means to engage with archives when one’s community has been historically harmed or omitted from historical records, how we center crip/disabled ways of collecting, creating, and preserving knowledge, and how artists play an important role in these processes.

🎨Featured Artists:
Reveca Torres
briananoonan
Tempestt Hazel

📸 Image Credits:

Slide 1 & 2 - Photos by Isaac Yuquan Duan. (2024-12-07 Experimental Station: Sofía Gabriel Del Callejo, Helen Lee, Regina Martinez, Allen Moore, Rigo Saura, Irene Hsiao, Cat Mahari.)

08/11/2026

Looking for a fun family outing? We’ve got just the thing! On Sunday August 30th, join us from 2-6pm for a day of bowling, table games, prizes and activities for the whole family. Childcare will be provided, we’ll have pizza for the kiddos, and live roving puppets who would love to say hello! Kids bowl for less, so snag your tickets at the link in our bio before they run out!

Tickets to this bowling fundraiser support the work of Chicago arts organizations Comfort Station Logan Square, Rough House Puppet Arts, Homeroom, and High Concept Labs.

📸 Image Credits: 2025 Bowling Party; Photos by Angee Lennard