Page 21 - BusinessWest January 20, 2025

“A lot of times, if a young person isn’t thriving in school, we think that’s the young person’s fault: they have ADHD, they have whatever. We often don’t talk about it as a systemic problem. Here, we don’t try to blame the kid.”
internship opportunities for young people to learn the many skills associated with the entertainment and event-production indus- try, from lighting and sound to artist man- agement and beyond. Isaac Eddy, a 12-year veteran of the Blue Man Group, is develop- ing the theater program.
“Different aspects of the work appeal to different students — some kids are really lit up by how to use the lighting board, and other kids are interested in learning sound. Some of these young people, we predict, will go on to careers in the music indus- try or in the production industry,” Gobron explained, adding that LightHouse is also developing partnerships with the Fine Arts Center at UMass Amherst and a local the- atrical stage union, “so hopefully we can feed young people into the union. which would be a win-win.”
Similarly, the complex’s café will reopen
to the public, with integrated courses and
internships in all aspects of running a café,
leading to paid work and future career
opportunities. The complex also hosts an 8,000-square-foot commu- nity maker space, complete with a woodshop and ceramic studio, hosting classes and workspaces both for LightHouse students and accessible to the wider community.
Gobron is also excited that the just-opened kitchen space will serve both the café and student lunches, meaning the school no lon- ger has to rely on one of the large, national lunch suppliers.
“It’s really exciting that we’re going to have a real lunch program, and we’re going to eat together in the dining room every day,” she said. “Many of our young people are not arriving with strong skills or awareness or resources around healthy food choices, and that can have dire consequences.”
So there’s plenty of excitement at LightHouse — which currently enrolls about 75 students and could double that with more buildout
LightHouse bought the Gateway City Arts complex on July 18 and started classes on Sept. 3 — a whirlwind of activity Catherine Gobron calls “amazing.”
Staff Photo
— but also a sense of challenge.
Through what Gobron has called “a steady stream of commu-
nity-supported miracles,” the school raised $1.5 million toward purchasing and renovating the 40,000-square-foot property, and borrowed another $2.5 million in partnership with Greenfield Northampton Cooperative Bank and MassDevelopment. Collabora- tors on the project included HAI Architects, Houle Builders, and Sarah Reid at Small Victories Interior Design. A second capital
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