About Us

Our campus was previously home to Gateway City Arts, founded by artists Lori Divine and Vitek Kruta. Beginning in 2013, they transformed the former Judd Paper Company complex into one of the region’s most distinctive cultural spaces, bringing together touring musicians, local artists, theater, restaurants, studios, and community events.

When Gateway City Arts closed, the future of the property was uncertain. In July 2024, the campus was purchased by the nonprofit organization behind LightHouse Holyoke, a middle and high school centered on student voice, strong relationships, and real-world, personalized learning that had operated nearby on Race Street since 2015.

Rather than convert the entire campus into a school, we chose to keep its public and creative life at the center. We renewed and upgraded the performance spaces, invested in professional sound, lighting, production, and hospitality, and reopened the Soundstage and Divine Theater as fully professional venues. At the same time, the nonprofit itself began to grow beyond its original role as the organization behind a school.

The result is something new built on what was already here: a campus where education, professional performance, creative work, and public life exist side by side—and where young people, working artists, and the wider community share the same spaces, resources, and opportunities.

De la Luz is a nonprofit performing arts and community campus in downtown Holyoke, bringing together live performance, creative work, community life, and hands-on learning.

The campus includes two performance venues—the De la Luz Soundstage and the more intimate Divine Theater—as well as a commercial kitchen, dining room, courtyard, studios, and gathering spaces.

Since reopening in September 2024, De la Luz has hosted concerts, theater, dance, cultural celebrations, private events, nonprofit programs, and community gatherings. Our stages bring nationally touring performers into conversation with regional artists and people creating work right here in Holyoke.

De la Luz is also a place to learn by doing. Through the De la Luz Technical Arts Institute, young people from across Hampden and Hampshire Counties work alongside professionals in live sound, lighting, stage management, hospitality, culinary arts, and event production. They learn during real public events, build professional skills and experience, and have opportunities to move into paid work.

That combination is central to what De la Luz is: a place where people come to see a show, make something, learn a craft, gather around a table, build a career, or simply be part of what’s happening.

When our nonprofit purchased the former Gateway City Arts campus, its work expanded far beyond the school it had originally been created to operate.

In July 2025, the organization became LightWorks Collective. The new name reflects a much broader vision: bringing education, arts and culture, creative workforce development, and community life together under one roof.

Today, LightWorks Collective is home to De la Luz Soundstage, De la Luz Divine Theater, LightHouse Holyoke, and the De la Luz Technical Arts Institute, along with community partnerships, shared creative spaces, and new programs still taking shape.

Our mission is to expand opportunity through education, access to the performing arts, and creative workforce development.

These parts of our work are intentionally connected. Young people learn alongside working artists and technicians. Public performances become opportunities for training and paid work. Kitchens, stages, studios, and gathering spaces are used by students during the day and the wider community at night. Artists and community organizations gain access to spaces and resources that are increasingly difficult to find.

Whether someone comes here for a concert, a class, a meal, a community gathering, or their first paid job in the creative industries, we want this to be a place where people feel welcome, build meaningful relationships, develop their abilities, and imagine what might come next.

The name has changed and the work has grown, but the idea at the heart of the campus remains: creative spaces become more powerful when more people have the opportunity to participate in them.