<p>Mike Propsom and Loren Schulte, who play blues and ragtime music, last performed at the arts center in May.</p>

What do you do when you live part-time in a place where you cant find the live music you want to hear? If youre Bill and Sue Svendsen, founders of the Peninsula Arts Center in Long Beach, Wash., you follow the Field of Dreams philosophy if you build it, they will come and create your own music venue.

The Svendsens bought a beach house in Long Beach two and a half years ago to spend more time with their children and grandchildren. When we first bought our place in Long Beach, we were like, Oh, lets go out and hear music. And there wasnt any. So we started the center, Bill says modestly, making such a venture sound like the simplest thing in the world. The couple started out renting an old train depot, which they quickly outgrew. The Peninsula Arts Center has been in its current location, 504 Pacific Ave., formerly a hair salon, since March 2012.

When we started, my vision was that other people would start live music venues, so it wouldnt be just us every two weeks; thered be regular live music on the Peninsula, Bill says.

The vision is being fulfilled. The Adrift Hotel and Spa in Long Beach now has music four nights a week. Along with the Souwester Lodge in Seaview, Wash., which was already offering live music, the Cove at Peninsula Golf Course and the Shelburne Inn and Pub also feature music entertainment on a regular basis. We did a lot of encouraging of other people to get involved, Sue says.

In order to better serve and nurture the areas artists, the couples Peninsula Arts Center has become a 501(c)3 nonprofit organization. Bill and Sue take care of the mortgage, and the nonprofit pays the musicians. We started this from the very beginning with the philosophy of fair trade for our artists, so they get a minimum of $150 per musician, plus a nights stay, Sue says. We were paying for all of that off the nonprofit, and then the Adrift so very, very kindly has been putting our artists up for free.

Tiffany and Brady (Turner) over at the Adrift have been super supportive, and weve tried to help them out as much as we can, too, Bill agrees. Its really, I think, turned into a pretty good partnership where we look out for each other.

Although the Svendsens started out bringing in mostly personal friends from Portland to play at the Peninsula Arts Center, they have been steadily expanding the centers performing artists to include a broad range of musical genres. Theyve recently begun a Local Artist Concert Series to showcase musical artists who hail from between the Long Beach Peninsula and Cannon Beach.

Celtic music tends to pull people out of the woodwork a little bit more than indie music does, but we try to bring the singer/songwriters to help educate people cause they love it when they hear it, Sue says. Known genres bring people out a little bit more, but its our mission to introduce them to new stuff.

The Svendsens have structured their nonprofit as a wide umbrella to cover all forms of artistic expression. As Gallery 504 North, the center hosts artwork by the Northwest Artists Guild, a splinter group of the Peninsula Arts Association. In the fall, a local standup comedian and playwright will be putting on one-act plays. The Peninsula Arts Center also serves in the capacity of a meeting hall and classroom. Bellydance lessons are offered there, and the Women in Business hold meetings at the facility.

For the Svendsens, its not just about art; its also about community. Being completely hands-on gives them plenty of opportunity to meet people. They have no staff, so they wear many hats. Since they hail from Vancouver and only live on the peninsula part-time, thats no small feat. Not only do they attend all the concerts, they fill all the jobs necessary to make music happen. Sue is the emcee and bartender. Bill runs the sound. They are the set-up, tear down and janitorial crew. It is clearly a labor of joy. The delight in their voices is evident when they describe their vision for arts in the community.

The center is an intimate venue, seating about 45 people at full capacity. It has a full liquor license and offers beer and wine for sale, as well as complimentary coffee and goodies. All it really needs is you. Its kind of surprising: Were right on the main drag, weve got a big sign and lighting, and we still get tons of people who go, I never knew this was here, Bill says.

Were pretty careful about vetting the acts because what weve really built our audience and our whole reputation on is nobody ever comes to one of our concerts and is disappointed, Bill says.

If youre looking for something to do on the weekends, hearing music at the Peninsula Arts Center sounds like a pretty good bet.