Laura Scoble saw a problem and wanted to help fix it.

After reading newspaper reports on the cash-strapped Turnage Theaters Foundation, the Washington restaurateur decided to organize a fundraiser for the theater.

“We can’t wait any longer,” Scoble said.

A brainstorming session yielded the first-ever Main Street Project for young people interested in the arts.

The program runs May 31 through July 31 at the Turnage Theater, sited at 150 W. Main St., Washington.

Scoble, owner of Backwater Jack’s restaurant, has engaged professionals in fields from dance to photography to instruct children of third-grade age and up in multiple arts disciplines.

The instruction sessions will take place from 3:30 p.m. until 5:30 p.m. on Tuesday afternoons at the Turnage.

The cost per child is $10 per week, or $100 for the full 10-week course.

For families with multiple children, the cost is $100 for the first child plus a $20 materials fee for each additional child. The $100 fee is waived for the additional children.

Children who also take part in the Beaufort County Arts Council’s Art Camp will get to participate in the Main Street Program for the $20 materials fee.

Art Camp runs from 9 a.m. until noon and won’t conflict with the program at the Turnage.

“I don’t want them to have to choose between Art Camp and this,” Scoble said.

Scholarships are available for people who want their children to take part in the Main Street Project, she pointed out.

“All they have to do is ask,” Scoble said, adding she doesn’t want cost to bar the door to anyone.

“I don’t want any child to be excluded because of financial need,” she said.

Each participating child will have a chance to try his or her hand at the arts programmed into the project.

“So they get a chance to do everything,” said Scoble.

At the end of the project, a concert will be held July 31 at the Turnage, with all proceeds going to the theater.

The concert will showcase what the students learned during the program.

Tickets for the concert are $5 each for balcony seating and $10 apiece for downstairs seating.

For more information on the project, call Scoble at 252-402-5783.

Scoble has enlisted a number of arts professionals to help her with the program, including her sister, Nancy Scoble, who teaches art at Washington Montessori School.

If the program is successful, it could become an annual event, she related.

“I look at this as an experiment,” Laura Scoble said, adding she wants to see if young people can change the complexion of downtown Washington by bringing an economic benefit to the district through their parents.

Scoble is a trained musician who has played in the pit for Broadway shows and has traveled widely as a conductor and organizer of musical events.

“The arts took me around the world and I think the arts can change people’s lives in a lifelong way,” she said.

The Main Street Project already has drawn praise from Scotty Henley, executive director of the Turnage foundation.

“I would hope that the parents who have children who are drawn toward the arts will take advantage of this opportunity with the mentoring that will be going on,” Henley said.

Joey Toler, executive director of the arts council, called the program “a wonderful idea.”

“I have always said that there is a market for children’s arts programming,” said Toler.