The ATLAS project emerged in July 2022 from a need to create alternatives to the decentralised artistic creation of the Lisbon Metropolitan area, creating a space for interaction between the rural and urban. ATLAS wants to connect different partners around common goals, namely: to move the experience of art to the streets, to nature, to occupy abandoned places, to address important and contemporary European issues such as the active participation of communities in creative processes, isolation (loneliness), desertification of the interior of the country, migration due to lack of job opportunities, population aging, activating material and immaterial heritage and creating bridges between tradition and contemporaneity.

The programme includes artistic residencies, masterclasses, workshops and other activities with Portuguese and international artists, engaging the local communities. The residencies are anchored in research and artistic process, rather than in the final product, wanting to encourage direct participation, and spaces for sharing with ESAD students and the local community, whether through conversations, walks, Masterclasses, workshops, editions, school visits and from the various actions proposed by the artists these initiatives will culminate in public presentations.

The project has the support of DGArtes, the local council of Carvalhal, the Upper School of Arts and Design (Escola Superior Artes e Design Upper School of Arts and Design – Politécnico de Leiria | ESAD.CR), NovaOgiva Gallery in Obidos