When Frank and Sue Noonan see an opportunity, they don't hesitate to seize it.

Ten years ago last March, the couple had their first date.

The pair met because he was the band director at Wareham High School and she served president of the boosters, which raised money for the band.

"I asked, where do you think you'll be in 10 years?" Sue recalls.

"I said, 'I'm hoping I'll be with you,'" Frank quipped.

"And I didn't run screaming from the restaurant," Sue noted.

In December of that year, they were married. In May, they opened Onset Village Music on Onset Avenue.

The store later moved to Cranberry Highway in East Wareham, and about a year ago, moved to its current location at 2510 Cranberry Highway in Wareham.

"When we see something, we go for it," Frank says. "We don't dilly dally."

Sue agrees, and says: "Life is short."

When the adjacent storefront became vacant, it was this attitude that prompted the couple to open the SouthCoast Center for the Arts, which celebrated its grand opening last week.

Arts helps a community rise, Sue explained, and notes that she and Frank wanted to do something to promote the arts in this region.

"Schools are cutting the arts," Sue said. "It has to exist in the private sector."

Plus, the couple was getting tons of requests for new programs to offer at Onset Village Music: A community band, a choir… and other ventures that the music store could not accommodate on its own in its previous amount of space.

With classes such as "Little Feet, Big Beat" for children in kindergarten through second grade, acting and movement classes for middle school students, a show choir for teens, and a community band and a choir for all ages, the Noonans are hoping that "everyday people" will discover and embrace the arts.

"When you come in here with your family, you don't have to worry about what you're going to see and hear," says Sue.

Frank adds: "Our crowd is age five to 80."

The 40-seat space will provide a performance venue for bands and other groups.

"It gives local bands the opportunity to get out of the garage," Sue says. The idea is to "draw people together."

Frank, a trumpet and baritone player, understands the importance and need for smaller venues. He spent 26 years in military bands. He was a soloist at the White House and played for big names such as Ross Perot, Richard Nixon, Princess Diana.

But, he says:  "I stood in Texas Stadium in front of 70,000 people, and never had as much fun as performing in front of 30 people in a nursing home."

Frank, Sue, and Onset Village Music are currently funding the SouthCoast Center for the Arts "in hopes that it'll take off and become a nonprofit" by the end of the year, Frank explained.

The couple also gives credit to the other local groups that promote the arts.

"Others are doing artsy things in town and we don't discount that," Sue notes. "You can't have too much art."

Classes are beginning now. For more information, visit the SouthCoast Center for the Arts on Facebook, call 508-291-2787, or e-mail southcoastcenterforthearts@gmail.com. SouthCoast Center for the Arts is located at 2510 Cranberry Highway in Wareham, next door to Onset Village Music.