ATLAS Arts was founded in the summer of 2010, following a series of public discussions with the aim of imagining new ways of supporting visual arts programming in Skye and Lochalsh.
Responding to the closure of An Tuireann Arts Centre and working with the Gaelic college Sabhal Mòr Ostaig to develop their work with the arts, this research exercise (commissioned by HI~Arts via the Scottish Arts Council), culminated in September 2009 with a public meeting in Broadford Hall, where a proposal to create a new team to develop visual arts projects across Skye and Lochalsh was endorsed.
Founding director Emma Nicolson (now Head of Exhibitions at the Royal Botanic Gardens in Edinburgh) alongside Project Coordinator Rosie Somerville, Office Manager and Film Programmer Suzy Lee, and Producer Shona Cameron – who cultivated our roots and foundations over our first decade, as well as Administrator Avril Souter, Project Curator Gayle Meikle, Curatorial Fellow Alexandra Ross, Development Trainee Becca Clarke, Digital Researcher, Catriona Hood, Interns Aoife Carolan, Camilla Crosta, Finn Croy, Grace Morton, Talitha White and Sara Oussaiden, Research and Development Director Caroline Winn, Creative Producer AHRC CDP intern Carolyn Alexander, Assistant Producer and WJCB Fellow Samir Sharif and Curatorial MLitt placement Frankie Gallagher.
Over the years, ATLAS has been supported by a Board of Directors chaired by Prof Norman Gillies (2010−2020), including Sorcha Dallas, Rebecca Waterstone, John White, Steven Haddow, Anna Jobson, Sophie Morrish, Sue Pirnie, Catherine MacPhee, Donald Hyslop, Freya Rowe, Jenny Brownrigg, Cheryl McIntyre and AJ Stockwell.