The devastatingly good looking isle of Skye doesn’t like being patronised. ‘Please don’t call us “remote”,’ one local tells me with only half a smile, as we eat slippery langoustines and pints in the bar of the Eilean Iarmain hotel on a Saturday night. (The bridge connecting Skye to the mainland is just over a mile long after all, which makes it a shorter drive than over the Forth Bridge). It doesn’t like being misunderstood either. ‘Think you know what to expect from a night out in the Hebrides?’ Shouts the Skye-based podcast, Radio Free Hebrides, run by Mylo’s musicican/ DJ brother Hector MacInnes. ‘Think again!’

Skye wouldn’t like to be considered a cultural backwater either. No sir. Although a lot of weekenders and visitors want their visit to include a night of straightforward fiddles and folk song after an invigorating day of munro bagging – Skye can definitely offer some of the best trad musicians, not to mention munros, around – that’s not all the island can offer the culture lover. It’s becoming increasingly popular as a destination for fans of the experimental, the site-specific, the interactive and the avant-garde.

It’s been selected as one of the spots on Creative Scotland’s visual arts trail, GENERATION, a programme of art exhibitions across Scotland, celebrating artists working in Scotland over the past 25 years, including David Shrigley, Toby Paterson and Richard Wright. From August to October, Skye will host a 10-week sculptural installation with the working title ‘An Experience Being An Experience Like An Experience You Just Had’, featuring Glasgow-based artists Joanne Tatham and Tom O’Sullivan. It’s organised by Atlas, a visual arts organisation in Portree. Last May they commissioned sound poet Alec Finlay (son of Ian Hamilton Finlay) to create a work about our collective fascination with mountains. The result, ‘a company of mountains’, was then celebrated over a ‘PANORAMA’ launch weekend, with performances from Hanna Tuulikki, 7VWWVW and Wounded Knee, in an extravaganza of poetry, music and Tom Weir and volcano-appreciation.

The fact that Atlas doesn’t actually have a dedicated gallery space works only to its advantage; they’ve had to use Skye’s dramatic mountains and slopes as the walls for exhibiting their art on instead. It’s an idea that outdoor-arts mavericks NVA took, and ran with, back in 2005, where they used Skye’s landmark Old Man of Storr as epicentre for a dramatic 7-week sound and light installation.

‘We work very hard to bring a real variety of work together,’ says Rosie Somerville, project coordinator at Atlas. ‘So that people who don’t think they like sound poetry or analogue synths might end up enjoying it, after coming to hear a talk about mountaineering or geology.’ Atlas is also currently running a project called Spincycle, inspired by the spinning, knitting and weaving traditions on Skye, which has led to screenings of films in launderettes and hydro-electric showrooms around Skye and Lochalsh, and sonic explorations of ‘cycles, revolutions, oscillations and reels’ streamed on Radio Free Hebrides.

‘It’s not that we don’t think people want to experience traditional music and art forms, we’ve just noticed that often people want to do both,’ says Somerville. ‘Someone who came to last year’s PANORAMA event said “I’m glad I was able to witness this”. It had felt like something really significant to them. And we took that as a huge compliment.’

Skye Events calendar

Film screening
The Grand Budapest Hotel, from Sat 29 Mar, Aros Centre

LGBT film screening
Blue is the Warmest Colour, Sat 29 Mar, Sabhal Mòr Ostaig/ Gaelic College

Student music showcase
Royal Conservatoire of Scotland, Fri 4 Apr, Sabhal Mor Ostaig

Puppet theatre show
The Secret Life of Suitcases, Mon 7 Apr, Sabhal Mòr Ostaig

Visual artist talk
Talking Art Series: With Caroline Dear, Thu 10 Apr, Atlas Arts

Live music/DJs
SEALL 1000 Festival, with Shooglenifty, The Fiona Hunter Band, Porridge (DJ set), Sat 3 May, Sabhal Mòr Ostaig

Classical/ folk concert
Michigan’s Alma College Choir, Tue 6 May, Sabhal Mòr Ostaig

Visual artist talk
Talking Art Series: With Neil Mulholland, Sat 10 May, Atlas Arts

Folk gig
The Nuala Kennedy Band with Troy MacGillivray, Fri 16 May, Aros Centre

Craft fair
Spring Garden & Craft Fair, Sat 24 May, Armadale Castle Gardens

Team sport challenge
Row St Kilda to Skye, May (date TBC), arriving in Portree.

Music festival
Fèis an Eilein / the Skye Festival, various venues, Jul-Aug

Jazz concert
National Youth Jazz Orchestra of Scotland, Wed 16 Jul, Sabhal Mòr Ostaig

Theatre
In My Father’s Words, Dundee Rep, Tue 22 Jul, Sabhal Mòr Ostaig

Nature and heritage event
Skye Agricultural Show, Sat 9 Aug, King George V Playing Fields, Portree

Artist installations
Joanne Tatham & Tom O'Sullivan exhibition, part of GENERATION, by Creative Scotland, Aug–Oct, Atlas Arts

Guided walk
Gaelic and the Environment, ramble and talk, Tue 2 Sep, meet at the Drochaid Airidh na Saorach layby, near Broadford

Book festival
Skye Book Festival, Thu 4–Sun 6 Sep, Aros Centre

Music festival
Skye Swing Jazz Festival, Thu 30 Oct-Sun 2 Nov, various venues

Christmas fair
Christmas Craft & Food Fair, Thu 20 Nov, Clan Donald Skye, Armadale

Film screenings
The Screen Machine, Highlands touring cinema lorry.

For more info on Skye arts events, visit aros.co.uk, atlasarts.org.uk, seall.co.uk and whatsonskye.com.