Links Hall was originally Link’s Hall, named for John J. Link, the dentist who built it in 1914 and emblazoned his name in the plaster above the front door. Links Hall was an empty room above a hamburger joint next to a women’s health organization and a Japanese culture center in a seedy neighborhood where the Red Line rattled by every few minutes. Links Hall was a rehearsal space with shows at night: poetry readings, experimental music, performance art, dance. Links Hall is where moving bodies meet for the contact improv jam. “There are a hundred Links Halls, and people have the one they go to,” says associate director Anna Trier.

With the music community in mind, as well as several friends who were poets (“No one was listening, and no one was paying them—it was this burgeoning scene before poetry slams started”), he decided to institute poetry readings on Thursday nights and experimental music concerts Fridays and Saturdays. “I got grants, ran the whole show, set up chairs, swept the floor, and partied with the bands after,” he recalls. Among the early performers were several who are now well-known, including Amy and David Sedaris and Tony Fitzpatrick. After three years curating and 24 years on the board, Zerang officially stepped down in 2014, though he continues to produce and perform an annual winter solstice concert—for the 29th time this coming December.

In addition to creating opportunities for more artists to make new work, Links focuses on helping artists to create a supportive and sustaining community. “All the artists are asked to make a community investment instead of a [monetary] one,” says Schmidt. “Artists are house managing for other artists, people are providing raffle prizes, people are writing responses to each other’s work at the Performance Response Journal“—a website for artist-to-artist responses founded by past Links performers Joanna Furnans and Hope Goldman that has partnered with Links for the season. Artists are baking cakes for the Cake Lounge following the LinkSircus showcase on March 30, where the public is invited to celebrate Links’ 40th anniversary with sweets.

LinkSircus—Celebrating 40 Years and Cake Lounge Sat 3/30, 7 PM, Links Hall, 3111 N. Western, 773-281-0824, linkshall.org, $10-$40.

Sat 3/30, 7 PM, Links Hall, 3111 N. Western, 773-281-0824, linkshall.org, $10-$40.