By Mitchell “Stitch” Stafford
RAPID CITY, S.D. — A building that once gave Rapid City audiences a place to escape into stories on the big screen is preparing for a new chapter, one built around live entertainment, celebrations and community.
The Gate Event Center is taking shape inside the former Northgate Theater, with owners Breawna Schwartz Ventura, Trinity Conrad and Anna Starenkova envisioning a multipurpose venue designed to give local event producers, performers, families and businesses a flexible place to gather. For Schwartz Ventura, who also owns Live It Up Studio, the project grew from years of firsthand experience trying to find venues for competitions, performances, productions and community events.
“Eventually, we realized there was a real need, not just for our own businesses, but for the entire local event community to have a space designed with us in mind,” Schwartz Ventura said.
Finding available venues could be difficult, she said, and smaller local event producers sometimes found themselves competing with larger corporate events for dates. The goal with The Gate is to offer something different: an affordable event center with a hands-on approach to helping clients bring their events to life. Schwartz Ventura said 15 years of building businesses, including Live It Up Studio and the production company, taught her the importance of listening to customers and creating experiences around their needs.
That experience is influencing nearly every aspect of The Gate.
The venue will feature high ceilings, a large dance floor, immersive surround sound, a main entrance bar, bridal suite, two large staircases framing the dance floor, mezzanine areas for VIP seating or additional guests and ample parking. The Gate is also partnering with Perfect Wave Production to provide professional lighting and sound. Other available services are expected to include photography, video, décor and professional entertainers. One feature Schwartz Ventura believes could especially benefit the local event industry is a commercial kitchen that caterers can rent and use for events.
The goal is versatility.
One night could bring a wedding reception. Another could feature a concert, corporate party, dance competition, cornhole tournament or community gathering. Schwartz Ventura said the venue could even host church services on Sundays, while a dance and fitness facility will keep the building active during the week.
The building itself also carries personal history for Schwartz Ventura. Originally known as the Northgate Theater when it opened in the 1970s, it was where she remembers seeing “The Never Ending Story” as a child.
That history helped inspire the new name.
A gate, Schwartz Ventura said, can represent entering a new experience or chapter. It also carries an entertainment connection through the term “gate” for ticket sales and pays tribute to Rapid City’s identity as the “Gateway to the Black Hills.”
“The Gate represents history, opportunity, experiences, and opening the door to what comes next,” she said.
Getting there will require work. Schwartz Ventura said painting, remodeling, construction and other finishing projects remain, and the owners hope to connect with community members interested in contributing financial support, materials, skilled labor or trade services.
But the bigger vision reaches beyond renovating a building.
The three owners hope The Gate becomes another stage for local artists, a gathering place for families and a venue where Rapid City can create new memories inside a building that already holds plenty of old ones.
“The Gate isn’t just about building a venue,” Schwartz Ventura said. “It’s about creating a space where people can imagine what’s possible and then bring those ideas to life.”
