It was three years ago when Matthew Johnson, 28, decided to stop working at minimum wage jobs that weren’t making him happy and focus solely on acting.

“I had just come from making people laugh on stage to this job in the kitchen of a restaurant washing dishes and thinking about it made me start getting mad,” Johnson said. “I started yelling about it and my girlfriend said, ‘well, lets do something about it.’”

Johnson and Lauren Scoville developed an idea to create a live venue designed to showcase all types of art and entertainment, including, comedy, theater, painting and photography. They want their venue to be a restaurant, bar and theater.

“We want it to be a one-stop cultural hub for Federal Way residents,” Scoville said. “We want to display work from our local artists here in Federal Way, but also other areas such as Oregon, Idaho, Eastern Washington, Seattle and Tacoma. We want to expose local talents to a newer market and create a popular hangout spot for college kids.”

Johnson and Scoville said their venue would be the only business of its kind on this stretch of Pacific Highway and Interstate 5.

“If you’ve been to The Commons mall you might have noticed our wide selection of corporate bar restaurants and movie theaters,” Johnson said. “There is not one establishment there that actually houses artistic expression and real entertainment; we want to end that drought.”

So far, the couple has raised $450 from their fundraising page at RocketHub.com.

They said they need around $100,000 to build a bar, restaurant and theater, but will move forward when they receive $15,000 to start building a bar and theater, then work up to their full dream.

“We wanted the community to have the chance to support us so they could feel ownership of our place and feel an attachment to it,” Johnson said. “Our goal is to build from the ground up. With a loan from both SBA (Small Business Association) as well as local sources, we are hoping to open early next year.”

They plan to use the facility to give back to the community as a thank you for helping them with funds.

“We decided that each week all leftover, non-cooked food will be donated to local shelters as well as any clothing that sits on our shelves for more than six months,” Scoville said. “We want to be just as giving to our customers and community as they have been to us.”

The venue will also be designed to give back to the artists they feature.

“We can produce merchandise for our talent and artist on-site for a very little cost,” Scoville said. “Around 25 percent of the monthly revenue from these sales will go to the artists.”

Scoville and Johnson said they aspire to do this because of their own humble experience as artists. The two both tried working at corporate jobs to make a better living, but turned away to pursue their love of music and the arts.

Scoville has loved theater all her life and acted in so many plays in high school that she received two letters.

“I went to college and got a ‘real degree’ even though I really wanted to pursue music and the arts,” she said. “After a while I decided to pursue my true passion and started acting in local productions.”

Scoville and Johnson met at Highline College where they both pursued music and drama degrees. It was acting in a play that brought them closer.

“It took a year for her to agree to go out with me,” Johnson said. “I had to just be her good friend for a while and show her I had the drive to make something of myself.”

The two said they were not cut out for corporate life.

“I have always been a questioner, always asked authority, ‘why,’” Johnson said. “This got me in trouble in school and at jobs, but I think it will be instrumental in helping me be a successful business owner.”

Johnson and Scoville said the community needs to have more of an artistic presence.

“We have a lot of chain restaurants and a large corporate culture in Federal Way, but I think that is not something the community should thrive on,” he said. “When you think of Paris, you think of the art and the artist that made their mark there. We want to help Federal Way leave its own little mark on the world.”

To view Johnson and Scoville’s RocketHub.com page, visit rkthb.co/48754.