In 2001, a group of local citizens formed a nonprofit organization called the Harrisburg Cultural and Social Services Center and joined forces with The Salvation Army and Girl Scouts of Northeast Mississippi to purchase the former Harrisburg Baptist Church on Main Street in Tupelo. Link Centre, the organization they created, has grown over the years and offers a home base for numerous nonprofit arts and education organizations. Called one of Mississippi’s most creative collaborative efforts, Link Centre serves as a community resource for scores of regional organizations who hold concerts, screenings, workshops, seminars, lectures, dinners, and other events in one of Link’s three performance venues or versatile meeting spaces. Link Centre’s 21-Member Board of Directors comprises three classes of volunteers who serve three-year terms. Funding is a mix of grants, tenant and non-tenant rental, and fundraising.
At Link, people are actively working together, sharing resources, building bridges, and creating community in ways designed to bind us together rather than pull us apart. All forms of art find a place at Link Centre: symphonic music to improv comedy; classical ballet to contemporary dance; storytelling to filmmaking; spoken word to song writing; children’s art, music, and drama lessons to senior projects; blues legends to Elvis tribute artists. All roads lead to Link; all are welcome. As home to the Tupelo Arts Council as well as several of its member organizations, Link Centre functions as a resource center for local cultural events and coordinates the annual Art Rocks Tupelo city-wide arts festival. The organization is always reaching out to further our collaborative efforts as we seek to be community problem solvers and advocates for the power of the arts.
Together with our partners, Link Centre provides services to the sixteen-county region of Northeast Mississippi. Tupelo, with more than 36,000 residents, is a hub for healthcare, manufacturing, retail, legal services, nonprofits, and arts entertainment for the surrounding area. Link Centre strives to offer high-quality programming that appeals to all cultural, socio-economic, and demographic strata of this increasingly diverse community, and we are proud of our success at attracting representatives from so many constituencies to our events.