As I mention, this is not news to us, or many of our colleagues working in the same field, but it is a very welcome recognition that the quality of artistic process is often in the engagement and the interaction between artist and participant/audience. It is the ‘togetherness’, the ‘alongsideness’ and the essential element of ‘doing with’ rather than to that is the mark of our work.

There is no better example of this than in our long-term, commissioned project, the Mental Health Creative Support Service. We work with people living with mental health challenges across Bath and North East Somerset, providing them with high quality creative engagement opportunities, and a progression model that means they are in control of their own creative journey personally and as a collective. The results of this process are overwhelmingly positive, giving people inspiration, focus and social interaction in their lives through the creative process. Our artists work alongside the participants, inspiring and empowering them to explore, develop and grow. The outputs of this work result in high profile exhibitions such as our current photography exhibition at No1 Royal Crescent, festivals such as the recent How I Make it Work programme at 44AD Art Space, and sublimely written anthologies of writing from one of our peer-support groups, Writing Space. This is just a snapshot of the myriad of work undertaken this year in the project that continues to be a flagship initiative for people with mental health challenges, and has garnered local, regional, national and international plaudits.

At our recent away day, the board of trustees acknowledged that with the equivalent of only 3.1 full time staff, our reach, quality and impact is remarkable. This is down to the hard work, expertise and dedication of our staff, artists and volunteers, whom I thank wholeheartedly for their commitment to the cause.

And so, inevitably, it is Christmas. Next year’s diary is already filling up and we look forward to many dynamic, cogent and inspiring projects to come.