Knoxville Museum of Art

While the museum itself is a wonderful place to see and experience many types of art and is free to the public, my children are always treated like criminals when we attend. I went in 2021 and previously in 2016 and on both occasions was both frustrated and disappointed with how the staff viewed and treated my children. I believe we are a very well mannered family and my children are reasonably well behaved. The way we dress, our language, and our behavior would be considered very quiet and conservative. They are not perfect but they are by no means the type of children you would categorize as out of control or of any concern in a public environment. Yet on two different occasions (with two different children), the staff and security people for each room remain concerned about my children (age 10-11 on both occasions) to the point where I felt like we were being singled out and stalked. They were constantly correcting and chastising them and following them and staring at them even though I was in the room with them. While I understand their goal is to protect the displays, They could certainly be creative and find ways to do this but do not make me feel like a criminal. Even the children recognized this and talk to me about it. Clearly, this place is not child friendly even though they do want to reach children and expose them to the art community. In the gift shop, I had my daughter and her two friends with me and the cashier actually called one of them out to confirm she had not stolen a $2 item she was looking at, which has never happened to me in any other store. If they have to have so many rules that the rating going each other regarding my children, giving them an inquisition before we walk out of a gift shop, and stalking us throughout the museum my radio in from room to room to let them know we were coming, I would recommend they just lay out these invisible rules on a piece of paper and hand them to parents to make sure we are abiding by the rules. This is a great community activity that can expose children to higher art forms, but unfortunately I feel so uncomfortable By the time we get to the end I will not be attending again.

Knoxville Museum of Arts is one of my favorite places I like to visit with my two sons.nThis beautiful museum of art is always free to the public and the place always has new art for us to explore each month.nThe out door area has beautiful art statues throughout the entire park great place to have a lunch with my kids

There is always good things happening here. It's a great resource for families and those who make or enjoy art. There are some wonderful exhibits coming and the Black Mountain College is well done with such good information. Totally worth taking your time and stopping to see them. Really slow down.

My son, nephew, and I had a wonderful time yesterday. I really appreciate how they have staff monitoring to ensure social distancing and proper mask wearing. As always its a sensory friendly place and just one of our family's favorite places.

Me, my husband, 9 year old, &21 month old spent the weekend in Knoxville and went here one of thr days and we all had a good time!