Chicago Performance Community Survey Report
In Fall 2025, Chicago Dancemakers Forum and High Concept Labs—two organizations committed to supporting experimental performance and artistic practice—gathered anonymous information from local artists in Chicago’s performance communities for research, collective advocacy, and program planning purposes. This was a quick check-in of local artists in response to recent and ongoing shifts and losses within Chicago’s performance ecosystem.
The Chicago Performance Community Survey Survey Report is a summary of the data and commentary collected from 93 artists, all anonymous.
Answers to questions with quantitative responses are presented through charts and graphs. For survey questions that invited follow-up responses, we provide summaries and selected excerpts to contextualize the data.
For a deeper investigation into the generous narrative responses, we have published an addendum that includes all narrative responses organized by question instead of by the seven themes identified by the survey organizers.
The Chicago Performance Community Convening
Saturday, April 18, 2026
Constellation + Comrade
3111 N Western Ave, Chicago, IL 60618
11am-3pm
The Chicago Performance Community Convening invites artists and performance makers to participate in a facilitated discussion, informed by the results of the Chicago Performance Community Survey, to see how we can develop better, stronger, and more sustainable opportunities for performing artists together.
We recognize that implicit biases exist in surveys of this nature, as well as in the summation of the survey results. We encourage readers to consider alternative interpretations of these responses. Please contact joanna@chicagodancemakers.org or info@highconceptlabs.org for further inquiry.
Thank you to the many supporters of Chicago Dancemakers Forum and High Concept Labs whose support has made this research possible, including but not limited to Walder Foundation, Reva and David Logan Foundation, Driehaus Foundation, DCASE, Illinois Arts Council, Gaylord and Dorothy Donnelley Foundation, and the Arts Work Fund.
