There's an ongoing dispute spilling into the new year over who will run the Viet Museum at History Park in San Jose, and the new year could mean big changes. San Jose's Viet Museum could change hands if dueling groups don't come to a deal. The museum in History Park shut down more than a year ago because of the dispute. Its collection includes artifacts from the Vietnam War and refugees who resettled in Northern California.
Trustee Patsy Marino would resign just a week after Vendredi's hire, claiming in a resignation letter that the committee "did not interview a single outside candidate" even though two "exceptional" candidates were under consideration, the Times reports. She further cited "inappropriate interference and attempts to influence the process" by the museum's executive committee as well as by individual trustees and other museum staff and donors. She told the board that "PSAM's already poor reputation" would suffer further as a result of the selection. The Times notes that two more board members have left the 22-member body.
A motion approved approved at Peel Regional Council last month proposes control of the Peel Art Gallery Museum and Archives (PAMA) be transferred to the City of Brampton, with a plan to enhance programming and modernize the funding model. The site, which was originally the Peel County courthouse and jail, was built in 1867. But for more than 55 years it's housed thousands of pieces of art and artifacts representing the history of the region.
