William King Museum outlines new wing, school outreach and upcoming Dali show

Betsy White, executive director of the William King Museum of Art, briefed the Smyth County Board of Supervisors on the museum's recent activity, including a new three-story, 10,000-square-foot wing under construction to house a donated World Collection of Wildlife Art and an upcoming Salvador Dali exhibition opening Sept. 25.

White said the museum, set on a roughly 20-acre campus in a renovated 1913 school building, achieved national accreditation from the American Alliance of Museums in 2004 and successfully pursued reaccreditation in 2020. She told supervisors the museum's accreditation allows it to borrow high-security works from major institutions — noting a Dali exhibition coming from the Virginia Museum in Richmond — and highlighted recent traveling exhibits and outdoor sculptures that will be part of the campus display.

White also described the museums education programs: a Van Gogh outreach that brings art lessons to second- and third-grade classrooms (three 90-minute lessons per year) and a Heritage Express program for fourth-graders that brings school groups to the museum for a cultural-heritage project. She said Smith County has long been a partner in the museums school programs and acknowledged financial support from the Smith County Foundation and other local foundations.

George Whitley, identified as the museum board president and a Smith County native, invited supervisors to request museum tours and said plans call for a ribbon-cutting and park opening around June next year for the new wing.

What happens next: White encouraged supervisors to visit the museum and said staff will continue outreach to schools. The museum noted admission is free and highlighted special exhibitions and a new fifth-grade "Art Explorers" program.