Diggs Gallery Director to Leave for Michigan Museum Post

The Diggs Gallery at Winston-Salem State University is looking for new leadership.

Belinda Tate, the director of the gallery for the last 15 years, is leaving to become the executive director of the Kalamazoo Institute of Arts in Michigan.

During Tate's tenure at Diggs, the gallery's permanent collection grew by 20 percent. She also led an expansion of the gallery and expanded exhibits to engage the community outside the gallery walls. Tate is a Winston-Salem native who earned an art history degree from Yale University and a master's degree in liberal studies from Wake Forest University. Tate says she has mixed feelings about leaving her hometown but is excited about her new job.

Tate says art in the public sphere is critical to the community. She adds that artists have played a large role in re-energizing the city over the last 15 years.

Tate begins her new job in Kalamazoo in September. Winston-Salem State University officials are expected to begin a search for her replacement in the coming weeks.