Chicago's High Concept Labs (HCL) is proud to announce that it has received $10,000 in funding from the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) to support its flagship Sponsored Artist Program in 2016. This is the first time the organization has received funding from the organization’s Art Works program.

More than $82 million has been approved by National Endowment for the Arts to fund local arts projects and partnerships in the NEA’s second major funding announcement for fiscal year 2016. The Art Works category supports the creation of work and presentation of both new and existing work, lifelong learning in the arts, and public engagement with the arts through 13 arts disciplines or fields.

“The arts are all around us, enhancing our lives in ways both subtle and obvious, expected and unexpected,” said NEA Chairman Jane Chu. “Supporting projects like the one from High Concept Labs offers more opportunities to engage in the arts every day.”

“To receive funding from the National Endowment for the Arts is a significant milestone for High Concept Labs,” said HCL Executive Director Steven Wang. “It highlights the growth and the success of our Sponsored Artist Program, as well as adds to the trajectory of our organization. The Sponsored Artist Program is important programming for Chicago artists and for the Chicago community; the Art Works grant validates these ideas.”

High Concept Labs’ Sponsored Artist Program promotes the growth of artists and their work through the donation of customizable, no-cost support services. For two, four-month seasons each year, artists are selected by HCL’s Artistic Advisory Council to incubate, workshop, perform, or exhibit new work. Artists receive, at no cost: rehearsal, workshop and performance space; administrative and production assistance; communications and design support; audience development; artistic consultation; photo and video documentation; and more.

The ten Sponsored Artists selected to participate in HCL’s Fall 2016 Season will be announced shortly.

High Concept Labs (HCL) supports artists and facilitates dialogue between artists, audiences, and staff. This increases access and transparency to the artistic process and fosters transformational experiences in an environment of experimentation and discovery. highconceptlabs.org

HCL is supported in part by the generosity of Mana Contemporary Chicago, the National Endowment for the Arts, The Chicago Community Trust, MacArthur Funds for Arts and Culture at The Richard H. Driehaus Foundation, The Gaylord and Dorothy Donnelley Foundation, Chicago Dancemakers Forum, Martha Struthers Farley and Donald C. Farley, Jr. Family Foundation, N.A., The Norwottock Charitable Trust, The Samuel J. Baskin Charitable Trust, The Cliff Dwellers Arts Foundation, and individual donors.

website: highconceptlabs.org
calendar of events: highconceptlabs.org/calendar/
facebook: facebook.com/highconceptlabs

HCL is based at Mana Contemporary Chicago in the Pilsen neighborhood, at 2233 S Throop St. Chicago, Illinois 60608.