The Hilliard University Art Museum is the most important
addition to Acadiana's many attractions in the past 20 years
("Museum Meltdown," Nov. 23). I have made several trips to
Lafayette from my home in Santa Monica, Calif. to enjoy exhibits
of superstar artists like Robert Rauschenberg and Pablo Picasso,
along with fascinating Louisiana-based artists like Francis Pavy
and William Moreland. I would not have been able to see these
exhibits anywhere but in Lafayette even though I live near a
half-dozen major art museums in Los Angeles and I travel several
times a year to the East Coast, Europe and Japan.  I hope the
community realizes that it has an institution that logically
should not exist in a city the size of Lafayette and a state as
poor as Louisiana. The inspiring building won the prestigious
American Institute of Architects Honor Award for Interior
Architecture in a nation-wide competition. The exhibitions are
planned and installed with the same level of thought and care as
at the Metropolitan Museum of