Pam Atchison has been a dedicated advocate for the arts in Northwest Louisiana for more than four decades. Her influence on the cultural life of Northwest Louisiana is unmistakable. She is passionate, committed, and recognized as a relentless force with a superpower that motivates others to support creativity and artists of all disciplines. Director of the Shreveport Regional Arts Council (SRAC) from 1986 to 2024, Atchison is the recipient of the 2026 LEH Bright Lights Champion of Culture award.  

Atchison’s interest in the arts was sparked at age eleven, after witnessing a ballet performance by Edward Villella and Patricia McBride at the Fort Worth Scott Theater. She was deeply moved not only by the dancing but also by the emotional response of the audience applauding and throwing rose bouquets onto the stage. The experience left a lasting impression, inspiring a lifetime of working to connect audiences and artists. 

Atchison began her career as a high school theater teacher in Texas and Alabama, cherishing moments when students made breakthroughs on stage and audiences became engrossed in their performances. In 1981, she moved to Shreveport to serve as the Arts-In-Education Director for SRAC. During her first five years in the role, she helped create the ArtBreak Festival, showcasing curriculum-based arts programs from Caddo Parish Schools, to celebrate student achievement in the arts. She considers ArtBreak—an annual event that continues to this day—her crowning accomplishment, believing that public recognition helps students see the possibility of pursuing creative careers, which catalyzes the next generation of artists. The festival has expanded to include students from Desoto and Webster Parishes, Students with Exceptionalities, Film Prize Jr., and STEAM instruction; it has inspired students to go on to Broadway and other creative endeavors and is the highlight of SRAC’s nationally recognized Arts in Education: STEAM Learning program.  

Armed with a master’s degree in nonprofit administration from Louisiana State University Shreveport and a BFA from Stephen F. Austin State University, she has led the charge in visionary and accessible community arts initiatives, including community cultural planning, regional arts development, and public art installations. Notable projects include murals, sculptures, and the LED programmable Bakowski Bridge of Lights on the Texas Street Bridge, which began as an educational program for Title I students. 

In 2004, under her directorship and in collaboration with Academy and Emmy Award–winning William Joyce, SRAC established artspace, a center for the creation and presentation of the arts. Located in downtown Shreveport, artspace offers exhibitions, artist talks, and other engaging programs. SRAC also developed initiatives to enhance the capacity and entrepreneurial success of Northwest Louisiana artists, including training, fellowships, commissions, residency partnerships with nationally recognized artists (e.g., Rockne Krebs, Meg Saligman, Nick Cave, and Wayne White) and robust grants for artists and organizations. 

Following a fire that destroyed the SRAC offices in 2009, Atchison assembled a team of artists, planners, and creatives to lead a community effort to revitalize a nine-block area in downtown Shreveport, transforming the area to become Shreveport Common, with Caddo Common Park as its creative hub. The Shreveport Common Board and SRAC now provide diverse and innovative programming, contributing to an “Uncommon Cultural Community.” 

Atchison is proud of SRAC’s national reputation. Michael Killoren, former Director for Local Arts Agencies at the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA), once named SRAC one of the nation’s top five Arts Councils. When NEA created a grant program celebrating the twenty-fifth anniversary of the Mayors’ Institute on City Design, now known as the Our Town program, NEA Chairman Rocco Landesman visited Shreveport to award the program’s first grant. He later recommended SRAC to the Educational Foundation of America and made personal gifts to support the Central Artstation and the Artist Resource Room. 

The LEH Bright Lights Champion of Culture award adds to Atchison’s impressive list of accolades, including the Lifetime Achievement award from the Louisiana Partnership for the Arts, an honorary doctorate from Centenary College of Louisiana, the Distinguished Alumni award from Louisiana State University Shreveport, and the P.R.I.D.E. Master award, Shreveport–Bossier tourism and hospitality industry’s highest recognition. 

Despite her numerous awards, Atchison emphasizes the importance of teamwork. “I’m not keen to awards, to plaques and trophies and all of that,” she said. “[If] you’re putting one person out there, you’re forgetting or not recognizing the entire team that it’s taken to achieve success. And there’s nothing in forty-two years at SRAC, or even before that as a teacher, that I have ever done that would be a Pam thing. Everything has involved a huge team, starting with artists.” 

In addition to her professional achievements, Atchison has been married to her husband Bob for more than fifty years. She credits him for his moral support and dedication to her aspirations. Together, they have two sons and three creative granddaughters. Pam Atchison’s legacy in the arts and culture of Northwest Louisiana will endure for generations to come.  

Bruce Allen holds the title of Professor Emeritus in the Department of Art and Visual Culture at Centenary College of Louisiana, and he is a founding member of the Robinson Film Center and A Visual Sound & Movement Co. in Shreveport, Louisiana. He continues to contribute to the arts community as owner of Bruce Allen Art & Design, a freelance creative design and production company, and as Vice President of the Shreveport Regional Arts Council.