Willis A. Smith hired for museum

Willis A. Smith hired for museum

Sarasota-based Willis A. Smith Construction Inc. has been hired as the general contractor for a 24,475-square-foot expansion of the Circus Museum's Tibbals Learning Center building at the John and Mable Ringling Museum of Art. The addition will include 12,000 square feet of exhibition space and 12,000 square feet of storage space.

FleischmanGarcia has been retained to design the project.

The first floor of the addition will showcase exhibitions celebrating the history of circus performance. The second floor will be dedicated to the Tibbals Center for the Study of the American Circus and specialized art-storage facilities. Philanthropist Howard Tibbals provided a $4-million gift to fund the expansion, which was partially matched by the state in 2008.