Honey Pot Performance

What Honey Pot Performance does

Honey Pot Performance is a Chicago-based non-profit creative collaborative founded in 2000, chronicling Afro-feminist and Black diasporic subjectivities through critical performance, public humanities programming, and community engagement. The organization serves primarily BIPOC communities in Chicago, PGM/BIPOC artists, educators, and community activists, with secondary audiences including community organizations and the broader public interested in Afro-diasporic cultural preservation. Operationally it is structured as a small collective with a core team of seven (co-founders, directors, operations, and community engagement), six staff coordinators, and a five-to-six-member board.

The organization's product portfolio centers on original performance works—including Juke Cry Hand Clap (2014), Ma(s)king Her (2016), Fifth City Revisited (2024), Ways of Knowing, Pleasure Power Portal, and LRS 2.0—alongside programmatic offerings such as the Creative Design Lab and If/Then Artist Lab Series, which deploy the proprietary If/Then Divined Devising methodology (a framework grounded in improvisation, divination, and AfroDiasporic traditions). The Chicago Black Social Culture Map is a digital archival initiative built on the Omeka platform, with the Community Curators Program launching exhibitions such as The Doctors (2025). Distribution occurs through live venues (Links Hall, Jay Pritzker Pavilion, Mana Contemporary, First Church of the Brethren, Green Line Performing Arts Center, Chicago Cultural Center), digital archives, and educational partnerships including an SAIC intern collaboration.

Revenue is generated through grants and foundation funding (MacArthur, Mellon, Illinois Arts Council, DCASE, Foundation of Contemporary Arts, Field Foundation, Crossroads Community), individual donations via givebutter.com, and workshop/program fees. Pricing is registration-based with no public tiers. The go-to-market motion is event-driven and community-led, relying on institutional co-presenting partnerships with Chicago cultural venues and academic institutions rather than direct sales channels. Notable prior incarnation as ThickRoutes Performance Collage; legal name is Honey Pot Performance, also operating as HPP.

Name

Honey Pot Performance

Legal name

Honey Pot Performance

Website

https://honeypotperformance.org

Company type

Private

Founded year

2000

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

1–10 employees

Short description

Honey Pot Performance is a Chicago non-profit creative collaborative, founded in 2000, that produces Afro-feminist and Black diasporic performance works, workshops, and community-driven cultural archives serving BIPOC communities, artists, and educators.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Headquarters

HQ city

Chicago

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2C

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Operations, Marketing or Sales, Others, Technology or R&D

Revenue model

1. Grants and Foundation Funding: Honey Pot Performance is funded through grants from organizations including Illinois Arts Council, Foundation of Contemporary Arts, Department of Cultural Affairs & Special Events, MacArthur Foundation, Mellon Foundation, Field Foundation, Crossroads Community, and other institutional funders.
2. Individual Donations: Organization accepts donations through givebutter.com platform for annual giving campaigns and specific program support.
3. Workshop and Program Fees: Creative Design Lab and other workshops likely have associated registration fees, as registration is required for events.

Go-to-market motion2 records

Distribution channels5 records

Marketing channels7 records

Core offering

Honey Pot Performance is a creative collaborative that develops and presents live performance works, workshop/lab programs, and digital archival projects centered on Afro-feminist and Black diasporic subjectivities. Core paid and grant-funded offerings include original performance productions (e.g., Juke Cry Hand Clap, Ma(s)king Her, Fifth City Revisited), the Creative Design Lab and If/Then Artist Lab Series workshops, the Chicago Black Social Culture Map online archive, the Community Curators Program exhibitions, and the If/Then: New Works Festival.

Product overview

Honey Pot Performance is a creative collaborative chronicling Afro-feminist and Black diasporic subjectivities through performance, public humanities, and community engagement. The organization operates as a multi-project portfolio rather than a unified software product. Core offerings include performance works such as Juke Cry Hand Clap, Ma(s)king Her, Fifth City Revisited, Ways of Knowing, Pleasure Power Portal, and LRS 2.0. Supporting programs include the Creative Design Lab (CDL) and its If/Then Artist Lab Series, which offer workshops and labs using AfroDiasporic devising methodologies. The Chicago Black Social Culture Map (CBSCM) is a digital archiving initiative documenting Chicago house music history, which includes the Community Curators Program for exhibitions. The If/Then: New Works Festival presents culminating performance events featuring commissioned artists. Through these offerings, HPP emphasizes critical performance, community engagement, and everyday ways of valuing the human.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• Juke Cry Hand Clap An extended performance work exploring Chicago house music and dance culture as a significant phenomenon of American contemporary culture, examining cultural resonances in dance floors, social spaces, and house community interactions.
• Ma(s)king Her A dance theater work addressing the absence of women of color in speculative fiction as empowered future beings, aligned with AfroSurrealism and Black feminist thought, creating alternative worlds and economies of value for women of color.
• Fifth City Revisited A solo performance by Meida Teresa McNeal exploring a radical community movement from the 1960s-1990s on Chicago's Westside, combining memoir, history lesson, and urban planning critique.
• Ways of Knowing A featured project exploring creative methodologies and knowledge production through performance.
• Pleasure Power Portal A featured project examining themes of pleasure, power, and embodied experience.
• LRS 2.0 A featured project and production within the Honey Pot Performance portfolio.
• Creative Design Lab (CDL) A dynamic incubator for creative exploration at the intersection of artistic innovation, community engagement, and social transformation, offering participatory devising methods grounded in AfroDiasporic traditions and Black Feminist approaches.
• If/Then Artist Lab Series Entry point into the Creative Design Lab offering an embodied, relational, and process-driven approach to performance making, using improvisation, critical play, and embodied inquiry through the If/Then Divined Devising methodology.
• Chicago Black Social Culture Map (CBSCM) An online database project allowing audiences to access historical and cultural documents relating to Chicago House music, approaching archiving as a social, community-driven practice.
• If/Then: New Works Festival A New Works Festival featuring commissioned works from featured artists including Allegra Dolores, Sojourner Zenobia, Norman W. Long, Gloria Gloe Talamantes, and Honey Pot Performance, culminating as a performance film.
• Community Curators Program An exhibition initiative within CBSCM that spotlights personal collections representing important aspects of Chicago's Black social culture history, matching artists and community members with archivists to create digital exhibits.

Quantifiable outcome

• 25 years of continuous operation and community impact
• +2 more outcomes

Named customers7 records

Segments5 records

Ideal customer profiles3 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Feature3 records

Partnerships

Nine partnerships are on record, tiered core, major and minor.

• Green Line Performing Arts CentercoreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 21 March 2026If/Then: New Works Festival presented in partnership with Green Line Performing Arts Center. Filmed at the venue for performance film creation.
• First Church of the BrethrencoreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 12 October 2024Co-presented Fifth City Revisited film premiere. Partnership includes ongoing collaboration for If/Then performances and community events at the venue.
• School of the Art Institute of Chicago (SAIC)coreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 January 2020Collaborated with SAIC students (2020-2021) on the Chicago Black Social Culture Map project. Students worked on Omeka platform, transcribed primary materials, wrote research articles, created social media content, and curated digital exhibitions.
• Washington Park Arts IncubatorcoreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 January 2015HPP conducted 2015 residency at Washington Park Arts Incubator. Monthly gatherings included reading groups, dialogues, story circles, performance workshops, and 'choose your own adventure' game structures for Ma(s)king Her development.
• Department of Cultural Affairs & Special Events (DCASE)majorStrategic or Co-development PartnerPresented Ma(s)king Her premiere at Jay Pritzker Pavilion as part of Spring 2016 Theater & Dance season. Also involved in We Will Chicago initiative.
• Open TVminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerCollaborated with Aymar Jean Christian's Open TV platform to create Futurewomen web series documenting Ma(s)king Her's creative process.
• High Concept LabscoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerPresented world premiere of Juke Cry Hand Clap at High Concept Labs. Organization has held residencies and presented work through this incubator.
• Links HallcoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerPresented workshop production of Ma(s)king Her at Links Hall on Chicago's North side in August 2015.
• Chicago Cultural CentercoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerPartnered with Chicago Cultural Center for If/Then Phase 1 launch in conversation with Belkis Akon exhibition. Hosted monthly public sessions at the center.

Scale indicators2 records

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights5 records

Direct peers

• Experimental Sound Studio: Chicago non-profit for creative sound practice and listening; board member Olivia Junell is also Co-Director there. Comparable as a small arts non-profit in Chicago supporting experimental sonic and performance practice with workshop and residency programs.
• Urban Bush Women: Brooklyn-based dance-theater company rooted in the experiences of women of African descent. Directly comparable to HPP in mission (AfroDiasporic performance, Black feminist inquiry, community engagement) and in combining touring productions with training/workshop programming.
• 3Arts: Chicago non-profit that awards unrestricted grants to Chicago artists and awarded multiple fellowships to HPP-affiliated artists. Comparable as a peer Chicago arts-support organization operating in the same funding and recognition ecosystem.
• Washington Park Arts Incubator: Chicago arts residency program where HPP held its 2015 Ma(s)king Her residency. Comparable as a community-anchored residency and incubator serving artists developing devised performance work on Chicago's South Side.
• Ping Chong and Company: National devised-theater company producing original work exploring cultural difference and community. Comparable to HPP in its devised-theater methodology, focus on underrepresented voices, and integration of community voices into production.
• Links Hall: Chicago-based independent presenting organization for experimental dance, performance, and live art. Directly comparable as a small-scale Chicago presenting partner and venue for HPP's workshop production of Ma(s)king Her, serving overlapping artist and audience communities.
• Propeller Fund: Chicago arts funder that awarded HPP its Pilot Studio Residency 2015-2016. Comparable as a peer grant-maker/incubator for experimental performance projects in Chicago, with overlapping artist networks.
• Green Line Performing Arts Center: Chicago performance venue and presenting partner that co-presented HPP's If/Then: New Works Festival. Comparable as a small-to-mid scale Chicago performing arts presenter focused on contemporary work.
• High Concept Labs: Chicago arts incubator and laboratory for emerging performing and media artists. Directly comparable as a residency partner that hosted the world premiere of Juke Cry Hand Clap, with a similar mission of supporting experimental devised work.

Broad incumbents

• Steppenwolf Theatre Company: Major Chicago theater institution and HPP co-founder Abra Johnson's prior collaborator (1919 production). Comparable as a Chicago-based theatrical producer working with devised and ensemble-driven work, though at vastly larger scale and broader-appeal programming.

Market position

Strengths4 records

Weaknesses4 records

Competitive moat5 records

Key risks5 records

Key highlights6 records

Customer concentration

• Facebookfacebook.com/events
• Instagraminstagram.com/honeypotperformance
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/honey-pot-performance

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles9 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

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M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Honey Pot Performance