Sarasota-based Willis A. Smith Construction has been hired to handle the expansion of the Circus Museums at the John and Mable Ringling Museum of Art in Sarasota. The expansion will add 24,475 sq ft to the existing Circus Museum’s Tibbals Learning Center. This addition will include 12,000 sq ft of exhibition space and 12,000 sq ft of storage space.

The first floor of the addition will showcase exhibitions celebrating the history of circus performance. The second floor will establish the Tibbals Center for the Study of the American Circus and will be equipped for research by scholars and curators.

FleischmanGarcia of Sarasota is designing the project. California-based West Office Exhibition Design will design the exhibition space.

Willis A. Smith also announced that the School Board of Sarasota County has selected the firm to start preconstruction services for the rebuilding of Booker High School. The $45-million project’s design team consists of Harvard Jolly, Fawley Bryant and Jack Meredith of Creative Aesthetics.