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Gateway City Arts Sells Race Street Property to LightHouse Holyoke

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Daily News

HOLYOKE — Gateway City Arts (GCA) announced it has signed a purchase and sale agreement with LightHouse Holyoke for the transfer of the three-building arts complex at 92 Race St. in Holyoke.

“We couldn’t be happier to have LightHouse move into the space that we spent 12 years creating,” said Lori Divine, co-creator and co-owner, with Vitek Kruta, of Gateway City Arts. “Our mission was always to create a space for education, community, creativity, and inspiration. This was carried out in our classes, meetings, theater, food, music, and gatherings.

“LightHouse Holyoke shares so many of our values,” she went on. “When it was clear that GCA had to close, our hope was to find a buyer that would continue our vision merged with their own. We applaud what LightHouse brings to the lives of its students and their families and friends. We created a space for learning and sharing; LightHouse will continue that. Vitek and I are excited about the new chapter of creativity for LightHouse and for Holyoke.”

LightHouse is a competency-based middle and high school for self-directed learning. It first opened in Holyoke in 2015 and began a collaboration with Holyoke Public Schools in 2017. LightHouse now has partnerships with six public districts.

“Our mission statement begins with, ‘LightHouse is changing what school can be,’” said Catherine Gobron, co-founder and executive director for LightHouse Holyoke. “Situating a school within the framework of a performing-arts and concert venue is an incredible opportunity. We couldn’t imagine a more perfect location to expand our mission and vision than the state-of-the-art facility that Lori Divine and Vitek Kruta have built at 92 Race.”

For LightHouse Holyoke, the move offers a significant opportunity to expand its existing programs. The new facility will feature similar non-traditional learning spaces as those currently existing at LightHouse, presently just down the block at 208 Race St., including a maker space, music studio, and recording studio, which have already been instrumental in nurturing creativity and inspiration among students who may not have previously enjoyed school.

Plans for the three-building, 40,000-square-foot facility include a Production Academy integrated into the two on-site performance spaces, the 100-person-capacity Divine Theater, and the much larger 500-person-capacity concert venue, creating scaffolded training and internship opportunities for young people to learn the many skills associated with the entertainment and event-production industry, from lighting and sound to artist management and beyond.

Similarly, the café, designed and handpainted by Kruta, will reopen as a public restaurant, with integrated courses and internships in all aspects of running a café, leading to paid work and future career opportunities.

The facility also hosts an 8,000-square-foot maker space built by Divine and Kruta, which will continue on as a community maker space, complete with a wood shop and ceramic studio, both hosting classes and workspaces for LightHouse students and accessible to the larger community as well.

“At LightHouse, the students are the curriculum, individually and collectively, and the school is the community,” Gobron said. “From inception, downtown Holyoke has been our campus as we support young people to learn outside the confines of traditional classrooms, inspired by personal interests in the context of the real world. We could not be more honored or more excited to take up the mantle from Lori and Vitek and carry forward the work of creating art and building community in Hampden County.”

BusinessTalk with Vitek Kruta and Lori Divine-Hudson, owners of Gateway City Arts

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Business Talk Podcast Special Coverage

We are excited to announce that BusinessWest has launched a new podcast series, BusinessTalk. Each episode will feature in-depth interviews and discussions with local industry leaders, providing thoughtful perspectives on the Western Massachuetts economy and the many business ventures that keep it running during these challenging times.

Go HERE to view all episodes

Episode 192: December 18, 2023

Joe Interviews Vitek Kruta and Lori Divine-Hudson, owners of Gateway City Arts

Since opening Gateway City Arts 12 years ago, Vitek Kruta and Lori Divine-Hudson have seen it blossom into a robust center for the arts, live music, and community, and a true destination in downtown Holyoke. They’ve also seen struggles, especially since the pandemic disrupted the model, with ripple effects continuing today. And now, the Race Street property is for sale. On the next episode of BusinessTalk, Vitek and Lori talk with BusinessWest Editor Joe Bednar about their experiences at Gateway City Arts, the emotional decision they’ve made, and why they hope the future owner recognizes and continues their vision. It’s must listening, so tune in to BusinessTalk, a podcast presented by BusinessWest and sponsored by PeoplesBank.
 

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Mother’s Day Brunch, Classical Concert at Gateway City Arts to Benefit Safe Passage

By
Daily News

HOLYOKE — Judd’s Restaurant at Gateway City Arts has a full schedule of events planned for Mother’s Day on Sunday, May 14, beginning with its Sunday brunch, served from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Following brunch at 2 p.m. will be a benefit concert for Safe Passage, featuring “Fantasie for Flute and Piano,” performed by Mosaic, the flute/piano duo of Sue Kurian and Meg Kelsey Wright.

The concert, which is free and open to the public, will feature a kaleidoscope of unusual pieces: two fantasies by Gabriel Fauré and Albert Franz Doppler; two tangos by Astor Piazzolla and Brazilian composer Ernesto Nazareth; a folk-like, jazzy theme and variation by New Hampshire composer Gwyneth Walker; a haunting nocturne for alto flute and piano by Norwegian composer Johan Kvandal; and flute and piano solos by Arthur Honegger and Clara Schumann.

The concert is part of the classical-music series at Gateway City Arts sponsored by GLC, the venue’s nonprofit arm.

Donations for Safe Passage will be accepted at the door. Safe Passage provides survivors with the support and information to keep themselves and their children safe and to rebuild their lives in the wake of domestic violence. Learn more at safepass.org.

Judd’s Sunday brunch features classic brunch cocktails and a menu of favorites with an Eastern European twist, including crispy potato latkes served with applesauce and sour cream, potato and cheese pierogi, homemade French toast bake, savory and sweet crepes, and more. In addition to the regular menu, there will be Mother’s Day specials. Click here to make Mother’s Day brunch reservations.

Also on Mother’s Day is the weekly Sunday Race Street Bazaar in the music hall at Race Street Live at Gateway City Arts. The bazaar features a variety of vendors offering secondhand goods, collectibles, records, CDs and tapes, clothing, toys, tools, crafts, electronics, and housewares.

Opinion: More Business Dreams Are Dying

By
Daily News

While the arrival of vaccines is fostering some optimism across this country and we’re hearing phrases like ‘beginning of the end’ (for the pandemic) and ‘light at the end of the tunnel,’ the sad fact is that relief won’t come soon enough for some businesses in this region.

The latest victim of the COVID-19 crisis is Gateway City Arts in Holyoke. Owners Lori Divine and Vitek Kruta announced they can longer continue operating their cultural-arts center, which had become such a critical part of Holyoke’s resurgence, and will now attempt to sell the complex.

Their message to the community sums up the plight of so many businesses in this region and the frustration that has accompanied the restrictions, shutdowns, and general lack of support from state and federal officials.

“We have reached the point where we just don’t have the resources and energy to try to survive,” they wrote, echoing the sentiments of many who have been trying, unsuccessfully, to hang on. “It took us 10 years to start feeling that we could make it, and then COVID took it all away.”

The two went on to talk about life just before they were forced to close their doors. There was a sold-out concert with more than 500 people in the Hub (and an impressive upcoming slate of big-name artists), a theater production with more than 100 people, and a full house in Judd’s restaurant. And in the veritable blink of an eye, it was all gone.

Like most small businesses in this region, Gateway City Arts received a PPP loan last spring. It was intended to provide eight to 10 weeks of support and keep people paid — and that’s exactly what it did. The problem, as everyone knows, is that the pandemic has lasted far longer than a few months. No further relief, other than a GoFundMe campaign, was forthcoming, and with no end to this crisis in sight, Divine and Kruta had to let their dream die.

As we all prepare to turn the calendar to 2021, many businesses are some state of peril — and many more dreams may have to die. If there is a lockdown or further restrictions, as many fear is possible, if not imminent — or even if the status quo continues — many more small businesses will be forced to close their doors.

Yes, the vaccines are coming, and yes, there just might be some light at the end of this incredibly long, exceedingly dark tunnel. But for many, it won’t come soon enough. Congress needs to end the stalemate on a new stimulus package and provide relief to individuals and small businesses — not after Jan. 20, not next month, but right now.