Grammy satellite museum to land in Cleveland

by Clay Chandler

Published: April 21,2011

Tags: CLEVELAND, Delta Music Institute, grammy, MEC Annual Meeting, Mississippi, Museum, Robert Santelli

Gov. Haley Barbour and Grammy Museum executive director Robert Santelli announced at Mississippi Economic Council’s annual meeting last week in Jackson that Cleveland will eventually be home to the first Grammy museum outside of Los Angeles.

“We looked at a state that would be best suited for spreading the word about artistic excellence,” Santelli told the crowd gathered at the Jackson Convention Complex about the site selection process.

An exact location for the museum has not yet been selected, though it will be near Delta State University, whose Delta Music Institute will play a role in the museum’s operation.

Details about funding for the museum remained unclear last Thursday afternoon, though money to build it will come from public and private sources, including the City of Cleveland, Bolivar County, the state and business organizations and trade groups. According to a press release, the estimated cost for the 20,000-square-foot museum is $12 million.

Santelli said after the announcement that the team putting the project together hope to hear “within the next few weeks” about the possibility of land being donated for the museum.

“I’d love to see it open by 2014,” Santelli said. “This forms a great cultural necklace (in conjunction with the B.B. King Museum in Indianola and the Jimmie Rodgers Museum in Meridian).

Santelli said the Cleveland museum would focus on musical and artistic excellence as a whole, but special emphasis would be added to Mississippi’s contributions to the international musical community.

“We hope this spawns a new generation of musicians,” he said.

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