Beaches Fine Arts Series mourns the passing of our Founder, Jim Johnson, on August 11, 2017. Jim’s vision for a free performing arts series featuring the highest quality performers led to the establishment of Beaches Fine Arts Series in 1972.  As the choirmaster and organist at St. Paul’s by-the-Sea, he worked with the then current rector, Father Neil Gray, to create the series as an outreach for the church.  In 1990, Beaches Fine Arts Series incorporated as a nonprofit, 501c-3 entity, with Jim as its first Executive Director.  Jim was at the helm of BFAS for 25 years prior to his retirement.  Jim’s family requests that donations be made to the Beaches Fine Arts Founder’s Fund in his memory.  His legacy is a lasting gift to the North Florida community.

BFAS Head Jim Johnson Retires after 25 Years

Published Wednesday, September 9, 1998 by The Jacksonville, Florida Times-Union

By Jackie Rooney

River City News correspondent

A change of guard will take place at the Beaches Fine Arts Series this month as a new executive director steps in to replace the man who founded and has guided the cultural arts series for 25 years.

Executive Director James D. Johnson has given a great deal to beaches residents and received much support from community organizations for the unique series that offers free concerts to the public. And few changes are expected when Kathy Wallis replaces Johnson as director, because they have been working together for some time.

”I’ve been actually understudying [Johnson],” Wallis said. ”He’s been the spiritual and physical leader of the series for its entire history, but there will be a fairly seamless transition between the two of us. We will continue offering free concerts to the community, that is the hallmark of our series.”

”It’s always been free,” Johnson said. ”The philosophy behind that is the arts should be available to everybody. We did not want to exclude anybody because of economic status.”

The unusual outreach program was created by St. Paul’s By-The-Sea Episcopal Church during the early 1970s, when there was no place at the beach for people to experience cultural music.

The series was established in 1973 as a non-sectarian, independent organization. And Johnson – church organist and choirmaster since 1967 – also became the series’ executive director.

The church’s rector, the Rev. Neil Gray, was totally supportive, Johnson said. ”The church took pains to make sure the series was community based. It was never meant to be used as recruitment for the church. It is through the arts that we get in touch with our basic humanity. Giving people the opportunity to be involved and listen to the great music of the century is in itself a spiritual experience.”

The church – newly built at that time – made an ideal concert hall because of its world-class acoustics. Johnson was the first to try it out, when he gave an organ concert as the first performer in the series.

Another organist, McNeil Robinson, also played that first year. The young musician from New York City electrified the audience and went on to become one of the top organists in the world. He has returned to perform many times. The last time he played a solo with the Jacksonville Symphony Orchestra, performing a piece the series commissioned him to write for the event, Johnson said.

The series is known for variety, featuring local, regional, national and international artists. A balance is struck in planning each season by including vocal and instrumental, soloists and chamber groups, established artists and young emerging artists. Professional fees are paid for performers, who often offer to play for a reduced rate, because the series has built an excellent reputation and treats them as honored guests.

We are ”inundated with people from around the world who want to perform here,” Johnson said.

Over the years, many well-known musicians, dancers and dramatists have performed at St. Paul’s By-The-Sea, including the American Boys Choir, the River City Ramblers (a Dixieland jazz group from St. Louis) and university groups such as the Yale Glee club and the Furman Singers. British solo actor John Stuarts Anderson did a dramatization of ”The Gospel of John.” And last year’s season opened with Eugene Intomin, one of the top five pianists in the world.

For that event, ”we had people packed in every square inch of the building and then turned 200 people away,” Johnson said. The church holds about 600 people, with 400 in pews and the rest in chairs set up for the concerts.

A reception featuring refreshments and an art exhibition is held in the parish hall after each concert where the audience can meet the performing and visual artists.

”We hope to do a series of master classes to expand our educational outreach responsibilities,” Wallis said. Also new this year is a plan to take the New England Spiritual Ensemble, scheduled for March 14, to two inner city schools.

On Saturday, the series is holding a special party and concert to celebrate its anniversary and honor Johnson, who is retiring as executive director. Unlike the eight regular season concerts, there is a fee to attend the gala that features celebrated artists from past seasons and will benefit the series.

It costs more than $60,000 a year to hold the eight concerts. Financial support has primarily come from individual contributions, some corporate gifts and the proceeds of the Beaches Fine Arts Sprint Triathlon Series in May, June and July at Mickler’s Landing in Ponte Vedra Beach. It includes a quarter-mile swim, an 11-mile bike ride and a three-mile run. Entry fees for this year’s event raised more than $12,000.

As director, the one thing Wallis wants to accomplish is to garner more corporate contributions. Baptist Medical Center at the Beaches has supported the series in the past. This year, CSX is sponsoring the gala and a concert and other companies such as Vistakon, Mayo Clinic Jacksonville, NationsBank, First Union Bank and Target stores are also sponsoring concerts, Wallis said.

St. Paul’s By-The-Sea has always provided space for the concerts, and there are about 24 community organizations that provide ushering and host the receptions. For example, the Newcomers Club will host a reception and the Ribault Garden Club always arranges flowers donated by Yours Truly Florist, Wallis said.

”It’s a wonderful interlinking of businesses with fine arts,” she said. ”We depend on community help and we’ve gotten quite a bit of it.”

Marking 25 years

Beaches Fine Arts Series program set

The Beaches Fine Arts Series’ 25th anniversary Gala Benefit Concert will be at 8 p.m. Saturday at St. Paul’s By-The-Sea Episcopal Church, 416 N. 12th Ave., Jacksonville Beach.

Madge Bruner of WJCT (89.9 FM) will be the mistress of ceremony for the event. The program will feature performances by artists who have performed at past programs:

St. Johns Chamber Players – Gabriel Pierne’s ”Variations Libres et Finale, Op. 51”

Ileana Fernandez, Eric Olsen and Mark Romatz – ”Trio for Oboe, Bassoon and Piano”

Andrew Clarke – J.S. Bach’s ”Fantasia in G Minor”

Peter Wright – Eugene Bozza’s ”Fantaisie Italienne”

Orlando XIII – Works of Claudio Monteverdi, Robert Pearsall and Charles Wood

Aaron Krosnick – Ernest Bloch’s ”Nigun”

Mary Lou Krosnick – Karl Maria von Weber’s ”Rondo from Sonata Op. 24”

Ileana Fernandez – Frederick Chopin’s ”Scherzo Op. 39 in C Sharp Minor”

David Scheininger – several well-known pieces including an operatic aria and a Broadway tune.

Tickets are available only at the door for $20 for adults and $10 for a student accompanied by an adult. For information about this special concert or the upcoming series, call 220-2327.

Obituary–JOHNSON James Dwight (Jim) Johnson