Grant Goes to Teapot Display

Written by David Rice from Journal Raleigh Bureau and taken from journalnow.com

The foundation that receives half of North Carolina’s tobacco-settlement money voted this week to award $10.8 million in grants to 54 projects across the state, including $220,000 for the Sparta Teapot Museum.

“These grants are focused on getting jobs, on other options for people who want to stay in agriculture - very much about preparing people for whatever new economy is coming,” said Valeria Lee, the president of the Golden LEAF Foundation. “We looked for those possibilities that would show up in a person’s pocketbook.”

The foundation receives half of the proceeds from the state’s 1998 settlement with the tobacco industry to try to assist development efforts in tobacco-dependent communities.

The foundation provided $380,000 last year to the $10 million project to build a teapot museum in Sparta, which intends to house a Los Angeles millionaire’s vast teapot collection.

The museum prompted controversy and wisecracks in floor debate when state legislators included $400,000 in taxpayer dollars for the project in the state budget in August.

Lee said that despite the skepticism, “We are convinced that it will be a draw for people who would just be driving up the Blue Ridge Parkway … who would stop and want a driving break. We just believe that the Kamm collection … will be a continuous draw.”

Officials at the New River Community Partners, which is overseeing the project, say that the museum will attract more than 60,000 additional visitors a year to Sparta and fuel development of new shops, galleries and restaurants.

“It does remain to be seen the degree to which people will drop in or go out of their way to see this collection,” Lee said. She added that when the collection was on exhibit at the Mint Museum in Charlotte, it drew crowds.

“In these small towns, we’re going to have to look for different ways of helping them,” she said.

• David Rice can be reached in Raleigh at (919) 833-9056 or at drice@wsjournal.com