Founded in 1968 the University Art Museum of the University of Louisiana at Lafayette has established a tradition of excellence in the organization of museum exhibitions and award-winning publications. The Museum's diverse programs have celebrated the achievements of Louisiana artists, while simultaneously introducing Louisiana audiences to artists from around the world. And in the context of Louisiana's unique Francophone heritage, the University Art Museum has presented visual art exhibitions from France, as well as French-speaking countries and regions of Belgium, Canada, Africa, and the Caribbean.

The 30,000 square foot, state of the art museum facility plays host to blockbuster exhibitions of national and international scope, and will expand its permanent collections substantially to include Pre-Colombian, Native American, African, Asian, European and American works of art. Construction of the new museum has been made possible by a lead gift from Lulu and Paul Hilliard of Lafayette.

Design Team

The award winning University Art Museum facility design is by Eskew+Dumez+Ripple architects of New Orleans, Louisiana. This repeated award-winning architectural firm is an acknowledged leader in the design of cultural facilities, having designed the Aquarium of the Americas in New Orleans, the new Louisiana State History Museum in Baton Rouge, the expansion of the New Orleans Museum of Art, and museums and visitor centers across the Gulf Coast.

M. Goodwin Associates of Los Angeles, nationally recognized museum consultants, designed the building program for the new University Art Museum. Other art museum programming projects completed by M. Goodwin Associates include: the Los Angeles County Museum of Art expansion; the Milwaukee Art Museum; the Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago; the North Carolina Museum of Art; the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art; the Seattle Art Museum; the Walker Art Center and the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts. The firm's university and private art school projects have included: the University of Texas at Austin; University of New Mexico; Rhode Island School of Design; Southern Methodist University; University of Notre Dame; Yale University Art Gallery and the Duke University Museum of Art.