No, i’m not talking about the new little royal but about me. I'm coming to the end of my first three months as Creative Associate for WalesLab at NTW and i thought it would be a good idea to quickly check-in and take stock.

Since I started I have been involved in so many a wondrous thing but biggest and bestest of all has to be Summercamp on Ynys Mon. Two weeks with Matt Ball & Laura Savelkoul was an absolute joy and of course working intensely with up to 20 talented artists with extremely diverse practices was a real treat. It was hard work, I mean really hard, but we all learnt a lot about ourselves, why we do what we do and that it is REALLY important to us.

I'm still mulling over and unpacking some of the things that came flying out of that experience and part of that process was a really detailed evaluation with all the participants. And i've been really struck by some of that feedback - its very clear that Summercamp has the capacity to deal with big things; with approaches to making work, with helping people understand what kind of artists they are, or the kind of artist they want to be, and with pointing them in a direction to help them get there.

I love these thoughts from Alan Humphreys who was one of this years Summercampers (Alan, I hope you don’t mind me sharing these....)

• "I’ve learnt more about what kind of artist I am - I went there thinking I was a theatre-maker and an actor.  I’ve come away knowing that I am an actor and collaborator, and in the very early stages of becoming a solo theatre-maker.
• I’ve learnt the importance of collaboration.
• I’ve learnt to be honest about the ideas I come up with, and to pursue the ones I really want to do, instead of the ones I think I should do."

I just think that is so brilliant!

I’ve also been busy with a number of WalesLab projects outside of Summercamp. Such as:

Wendy Hubbard - Under the Hooves of Horses
Kelly Jones - Radio Romance
Brent Morgan - Has It Come to This
Genaya Parris - Seen But Not Heard
Anna Poole and Thea Lodwick - Sh!t I'm Single

Other memorable moments from the last 3 months:

• Onesies and Ice creams in Holyhead (all at once, in one shop)
• Fire Evacuation training (essential)
• Matt’s Leaving Party (sad faces)
• Ice cream in the office (yes, more)
• Emerging Directors Interviews for Tonypandemonium (so talented)
• An awful profile pic on the website (i'd prefer my passport photo)
• Verbal risk assessment by John before erecting vintage tents (hmmm)

Its been a great 3 months, here's to many more.