Readers React: LACMA’s new building and satellite locations signal an exciting future for art in L.A.

To the editor: I grew up in Los Angeles and have been visiting the Los Angeles County Museum of Art since it opened in 1965. In 2002 I joined the board of trustees, where I have served in many capacities, including successfully chairing the Curators Circle, the largest support group at LACMA, for more than a decade.

While critics may have doubts about LACMA’s new building project, I have nothing but confidence in the museum’s plan and its potential to enrich the lives of all Angelenos.

Having seen the evolution of LACMA since its establishment, it breaks my heart to see the condition of the buildings on the east campus, which do not do justice to the museum’s extraordinary collection. Director Michael Govan’s vision for the new galleries, as well as our plans for satellite locations, are the kind of out-of-the-box thinking that an institution as vital as LACMA needs. The generosity that has been shown to realize this project is unprecedented.

I look forward to the day LACMA’s new galleries open and the public experiences one of the world’s great museum collections in the kind of home it and Los Angeles deserve.

Janet Dreisen Rappaport, Los Angeles

The writer is a member of the LACMA board of trustees.

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