When the Johnson Center for the Arts kicked off its 2015-2016 membership drive last week, the board promised to do something that it had never done before.

Vicki Pritchett, Johnson Center executive director, said JCA memberships would offer several exciting members-only events. One of those events would be an art trip to Europe put together especially for Johnson Center for the Arts members by Pam Smith, who has led Charles Henderson High School trips abroad for years.

“Saint Augustine said that the world is a book and those who do not travel read only a page,” Pritchett said. “The art trip Pam has planned will be filled with pages for travelers to ‘read.’”

Pritchett said reservations are now being accepted for the nine-day trip to Amsterdam and Paris, March 17 through March 25, 2016.

“This is a fantastic opportunity for those who love art and love to travel,” Pritchett said. “This is an opportunity to travel with friends and at a very affordable price. This trip is not just about museums. It’s about culture and history.”

The fee for the nine-day trip is in the $3,500 range and includes round-trip airfare, all transportation, sightseeing tours and site visits, all hotels with private bathroom, breakfast and dinner daily and a full-time multi-lingual tour director. Johnson Center members get a $50 coupon to apply to the trip fee.

Smith said the Amsterdam and Paris trip is filling up fast.

“This is proving to be a very popular trip and there is a limited number that we can accommodate,” she said. “We have a flexible payment plan for the convenience of those who would like to travel with us.”

Smith said the tour includes visits to the Rijksmuseum, the Van Gogh Museum, Anne Frank House and the Volendam and Zaanse Schans excursion in Amsterdam.

“On the fourth day, we’ll travel to Paris by Thalys train, enjoy a city walk, visit Musee d’Orsay and have dinner in the Latin Quarter.”

Also in Paris, the travelers will tour Montmartre and visit the Louvre, the Eiffel Tower and Fragonard’s Perfume Museum. The group will take a guided tour of Opera Garnier before enjoying a Seine River cruise.

One day of the tour will be spent in Normandy and will include visiting the D-Day beaches and the Arromanches Museum. The tour will return to Paris and will conclude with visits to Saint-Malo Cathedral and Mont-St-Michel.

“It would be hard to imagine a tour that would be more enlightening and more meaningful,” Pritchett said. “If you love art and history and love to travel, this tour has it all.”

For more information about the tour and cost-savings memberships to the Johnson Center, visit the Johnson Center for the Arts at 300 East Walnut Street or call 334-670-2287.