Mana Send-Off Party & Jam Session
Doors at 7pm
Opening Performance at 7:30
Jam Session at 8:00pm
After eleven fruitful years, HCL is departing Mana Contemporary. To mark this occasion, we are throwing one last party at our beloved fourth floor studio, often affectionately referred to as “the fishbowl”.
Old friends and new friends alike are invited to help us bid the studio farewell with an evening of what HCL is best known for: emergent, experimental, and collaborative performances that span and defy genres and disciplines.
Festivities will kick off with pizza and a special performance with Lawrence "Binkey" Tolefree, that will bring together beatbox rhythms, soulful vocals, and live-looping alchemy.
A jam session will follow: This is an open invitation to artists in our community to take the HCL stage one last time. All are welcome to share sound, music, dance, movement, video, projections, puppetry, performance, and more. Anyone who signs up will be able to present up to 15 minutes of material as a way to share emergent creative projects with an engaged audience, all while expressing gratitude to the space that incubated so many creative projects. Special guests, Cristal Sabbagh, Nick Turner, and others will help warm up the stage.
How to Join the Jam Session
Please sign up in advance so that the right equipment, connections, and stage can be prepared and ready to support your work. Our sprung-wood dance floor, tables, 16-channel mixer, projectors, microphones, cords and cables will all be available.
Please be ready to share technical needs, including an input list. Artists who sign up to perform will be provided complimentary admission and asked to arrive by 7:30pm.
Want to help out? Sign up to volunteer!
Tickets
Advanced tickets are appreciated but not required. Ticket options include a pay-what-you-can 0ption. No one will be turned away.
About Lawrence "Binkey" Tolefree
In the words of Binkey:
“I’m Lawrence "Binkey" Tolefree—a South Side Chicago creative force turning stages into spontaneous works of art. With beatbox rhythms, soulful vocals, and live-looping alchemy, I craft full-blown musical worlds on the spot. Storytelling, free styling songs, melodies, and poetry in real time, even the crowd can’t tell what’s scripted—because none of it is. Every performance is a beautiful surprise, blending hip-hop, stand-up, and raw improvisation into a vibe you feel deep.
Crowned Showtime at Apollo winner, MGD Freestyle Champ, and more—I’m here for real connection, not just trophies. When I’m not live-looping magic onstage, I’m curating unforgettable experiences worldwide, from weddings to high-energy shows.”
Access Services
To learn more about the accessibility of our studio, please review our Access Information. For any other questions or requests regarding accessibility, please contact Angee Lennard, HCL’s Accessibility Coordinator, at angee@highconceptlabs.org or 312-374-1117.
Presented by High Concept Labs and the Monira Foundation in Joint Residency at Mana Contemporary.