Johanna Mathieson-Ellmer is the Long Beach Herald's Person of the Year

One afternoon in the spring of 1958, Thomas Mathieson gathered his family in their Brooklyn home and told them, “We’re going to take a ride.” That family included a young aspiring dancer named Johanna.

They wound up in Long Beach, and in a few years’ time, the city’s arts scene would never be the same.

About 20 years ago, that young dancer, now Johanna Mathieson-Ellmer, helped found Long Beach’s premier arts organization, Artists in Partnership, along with then Executive Director Susan James. James is now retired and living in Virginia. Mathieson-Ellmer was an original board member as well.

A decade ago, she took over as executive director. The organization has brought painting, photography and dancing, indoors and out, to the forefront in a city where the competition for the arts is surfing, volleyball and hockey.

“The idea was to have an open forum where artists could come together and create a vision for Long Beach,” Mathieson-Ellmer, 71, said recently. “We wanted to be all-encompassing, including music, literary performances and art.”

So much of what goes on in Long Beach’s arts world has the Mathieson-Ellmer imprint on it, and the city has long recognized her contributions. For all she has done, the Herald is proud to name her its Person of the Year.

The Long Beach Arts Council is one of several arts organizations in Long Beach that at times works with Artists in Partnership. “Johanna Mathieson has been a supporter of the Long Beach Arts Council since its inception,” Ed Kennedy, the council’s president, said in a statement. “She is an excellent judge of talent. She has a strong commitment to the need for the arts in the City of Long Beach.”

In October, Mathieson-Ellmer took to the streets as part of an effort to create a permanent home for Long Beach artists, whose projects are scattered about the city, at Kennedy Plaza and in churches and synagogues. At a news conference, she announced that a location had been found — a vacant lot at the corner of Long Beach Boulevard and Park Avenue — and to dramatize the event, she had a group of photographers hang their work on the chain-link fence that surrounds the property, once occupied by Nu-Clear Drive-In Cleaners, which has been demolished.

When a permanent facility will be built is uncertain, said Brooke Robyn Dairman, director of the Professional Youth Theatre and co-director of the Dance Loft, both of which are among the organizations looking for a permanent home. Dairman, a dancer and singer who had professional roles in “Hello Dolly” and “White Christmas,” credited Mathieson-Ellmer with playing a major role in getting the effort started.

Dairman said that she and Mathieson-Ellmer met over a decade ago, when Dairman was starting the Professional Youth Theatre. “I was relatively young and inexperienced,” recalled Dairman, who’s now 40. “She took me under her wing. She liked what we had to offer.” Mathieson-Ellmer helped the Professional Youth Theatre and the Dance Loft find temporary quarters at the Magnolia Community Center in Long Beach.

“When I say she was a cheerleader, she really was,” Dairman said.

Under Mathieson-Ellmer’s leadership, Artists in Partnership has:

•  Held periodic arts and music performances at Kennedy Plaza.

•  Staged the Folk 2 Funk Festival, an annual music and arts event, at the public library.

•  Organized the Kickin’ Country Festival, also at the library.

•  Created an event for Women’s History Month, featuring film, music and art.

•  Hosted Barrier Beach Blues, a mix of classic blues, Americana, Soul and Roots music.

Mathieson-Ellmer also serves on the board of the Chamber of Commerce.

“With Artists in Partnership, and how much she cares about the arts and kids … she’s one of these people who stands out because she does so much and it’s genuine,” said Leah Tozer, co-chair of the chamber. “She wants to do great things and help the community … it’s mind-blowing.”

Why does she do it all? “Long Beach is our home,” Mathieson-Ellmer said. “Our support recognizes that.”

Mathieson-Ellmer was born in Montreal, and lived there with her family until she was about 10. Her father was an engineer for DuPont, and the family relocated to Delaware before arriving in Long Beach in the late 1950s. She attended Long Beach High School, and has always lived in the city.

As a child, she was artistic, loving to paint and draw. But she received little encouragement from her family. “In our house,” Mathieson-Ellmer said, “you had to grow up.”

She was the director of the Harriet Eisman Community School, an alternative school in Long Beach, from 1989 to 2004, and later studied at the New School and at New York University, where she took film and production courses. She did an internship at Nickelodeon, the first cable channel for children. She married Jeff Ellmer, now a retired insurance executive, in 1992. They have a son, Philip, and two daughters, Kristin and Eileen, from Ellmer’s previous marriage. Mathieson-Ellmer also worked for the City of Long Beach, as executive director of Youth and Family Services, and as liaison to the Arts Council.

She remains committed to the future of the arts in Long Beach.

“We want partnerships” with other city organizations, she said. “We want to make things happen. The power of synergy is unstoppable.”