LightHouse Holyoke and
Laudable Productions have co-created De la Luz Technical Arts Institute, a dynamic live performance venue coupled with a comprehensive music business training program in the former Gateway City Arts venue in downtown Holyoke. Each event at De la Luz is produced by a small cohort of Technical Arts Institute youth: LightHouse students, alumni, and young adult interns, guided and supported by experienced staff.
The program currently has two tracks: (1) Stagecraft: a hands-on vocational track where youth learn technical production skills such as sound engineering, lighting design, and video production; and (2) Producers: a cohort based program where youth work alongside professional event producers through the entire lifecycle of promoting a concert - from talent buying, budgeting and marketing, through execution on day of show.
The vocational program dovetails with summer work opportunities and job placement for youth who are interested in working in the field of technical production, while the skills acquired as part of the producers program have broad applicability in just about any field (project management, collaboration, communication, marketing, audience building, and budgeting).
De la Luz Technical Arts Institute launched in July, 2024 with an initial cohort of youth. After a couple weeks of training the crew joined the team producing Hartford Live, a weekly pop-up concert produced by
GoodWorks Entertainment in downtown Hartford, CT.
In the very near future De la Luz Technical Arts Institute will expand to include additional vocational tracks open to youth throughout Western Massachusetts. First to launch will be a culinary track where youth can train in a range of kitchen and cafe management skills, earning certificates of competency leading to paid work.
Future tracks in the planning stages will include carpentry, metal work, and other arts-focused professional training.
