Lifeline for Links
Announcing the ‘Lifeline for Links’ Campaign
For almost 50 years, Links Hall has been a lifeline of the Chicago independent performance ecosystem. We are one of the very few accessible and reliable multi-disciplinary performance, theater, and dance spaces for independent artists to experiment with, incubate, rehearse, and produce their work.
We are now asking our community to be our lifeline
and help us raise $350,000 before the end of the year.
Through the Lifeline for Links campaign, we can ensure that our legacy lives beyond a near-50-year tenure as one of the few spaces to substantively support groundbreaking and emerging live performance work that uplifts Chicago’s performance culture and connects it to a national network.
Over the span of Links Hall’s existence, we have nurtured new works by thousands of artists and welcomed hundreds of thousands of audience members, proliferating and profligating Chicago’s arts scene in ways beyond measure. A regular home for the work of artists and companies such as J'Sun Howard, Erin Kilmurray, Okwui Okpokwasili, Poonie's Cabaret, Rough House Theater, and Lucky Plush, artists like Tim Miller, David Sedaris, Media McNeal, and Julia Mayer also presented their early work at Links Hall. The list of artists who have had their work supported by Links Hall is long and expansive, which underlines how critical it is to support us now.
The $350,000 fundraising effort over the next two months will allow Links Hall to stabilize after a series of financial setbacks resulting from the COVID-19 pandemic and shifting funder priorities, a familiar combination to many other organizations in Chicago. Beyond stabilization, the campaign will also prime Links Hall to move into a future that honors and builds upon our legacy, ensuring that Chicago performing artists are supported, local audiences are in an exchange with cutting edge performance work, and that Chicago is seen and honored as a vital part of a national performance community.
Paired with the fundraising campaign is a transparent and inclusive community strategic planning process, which is examining and considering a number of transformational changes, including potential new business models and the possibility for Links Hall to move from our well-loved performance studio on Western Avenue, owned and operated by our long-time partner Constellation. In an open Community Town Hall last week, Links Hall shared with over 50 enthusiastic volunteer community stakeholders the story of the organization's last six years which led to the launch of the campaign. Artists, donors, audience members, and interested individuals across Chicago’s performance ecosystem were invited to ask questions and share ideas on how Links Hall should move ahead. This feedback was then shared out publicly and also taken into a smaller group - a cross-section of those same communities - who will spend the next three months in a strategic planning intensive.
For those looking to dive further with us, here is a more detailed account of our financial journey.
40th Season
This story begins with the successful 40th anniversary season in 2018-2019. The previous leadership and Board at that time made Links Hall completely rent-free for artists that year. They fundraised like hell, and as a result, tons and tons of artists were able to do shows that year. At times, there were 5,6,7 different shows happening each week. The season was a wonderful success and a capstone for the previous ED’s tenure in the role, which had been planned. After her transition, though, Links experienced a full staff turnover. There were many reasons for this, but the biggest takeaway from the Board at the time was burnout.
Pandemic + Pay Equity
As the Links Board brought in a new Executive Director, they committed to more livable wages and workloads. They hired a new full staff and then the pandemic hit. Amidst this worldwide crisis, Links was nimble. We turned our space into a film studio and created many opportunities for artists to make work and get it seen. The Board made a value-aligned decision to not fire anyone and this was supported by PPP loans. At a time when everything was shrinking, Links doubled down on their commitment to pay equity. Over the course of a couple years, the organization raised staff salaries, increased artist payments, added staff capacity (PT General Manager and contract grant writing support), and provided travel stipends for residency artists traveling from the south and west sides. These changes increased the Links budget substantially and the leadership knew this was a healthy size for Links to ethically operate and thrive. Foundations supported our commitment to pay equity.
Deficit + Campaign
This larger organizational budget size created a deficit that the Board plugged with cash reserves while planning to launch an aggressive fundraising campaign to raise 750K in two years. This would give Links a 5 year runway to grow into this new size, building up the fundraising capacity and resources to operate at this budget level. We also received a large line of credit, backed by the MacArthur Foundation to support our efforts.
Sudden Executive Director Change
As the campaign was gearing up to launch, the Executive Director left for a position on the east coast in May 2023. The move was due to personal circumstances, the Board appreciated her work keeping Links alive in the pandemic, and she parted on good terms. However, this change significantly delayed the timeline of the campaign, as the organization needed to conduct a new Executive Director search. During this time, the Board of Directors made the difficult choice to pass a large deficit for FY24 to make space to keep staff, get a new ED in the door, and launch this campaign.
New ED + Potential Space Change
By November 2023, the new and current ED, SK Kerastas was in the door. Soon after, we learned that the building’s owner (and our partner over the years) was looking to potentially make a transition with the building in the coming years. This brought a new question into the picture around space. We folded this issue into our campaign and sought funds to support strategic planning around it. In May 2024, we launched the silent phase of our previously-planned campaign and by October 2024, we had 41.5% of our first year goal committed.
Arts Funding Crisis
Despite campaign efforts going well and the energy of a new ED, Links received several funding blows this past year that put the organization in an even more precarious cash flow position. We laid off one of our employees to address our cash flow issue, but then we received news of yet another funding cut, this time a general operating grant that we were counting on (we had received this grant every year for 7+ years), which threw us into a dire cash flow situation. We had planned to go public once we reached 50% of the campaign, but we realized we had to pivot and go public immediately if we were going to be successful.
Lifeline for Links Campaign Launch
One of the reasons Links has stayed alive for this long (unlike many of its peers from 1978) is because of its ability to adapt, innovate, and change. Each previous leadership has played a huge part in those evolutions. If we are going to continue to breathe life into the performance culture of Chicago, we have to face these conditions with innovative thinking, collectivity, and a willingness to change.