Just got a copy of the Curious Minds Newsletter today and came over all unnecessary when I read what they had written about me.

'It has been wonderful to be reminded recently how our Creative Agents lead highly imaginative and creative lives beyond their involvement in Creative Partnerships. One of our long-established agents Cath Ford is undergoing something of a personal creative renaissance, having just launched her freelance 'solo career' after many years of employment with Action Factory Community Arts. The results of this can be viewed at Cath's website and at her blog. You'll find a rich mix of experiments in drawing combined with thoughtful reflections on the role of the Creative Agent. It's a real insight into how a creative life manifests itself and an example to us all about the power of social networking as a means of supporting your own development as well as sharing ideas with others.'

That's me they are talking about - how lovely is that?

 Working with Curious Minds has definitely played a significant role in my development both as a creative producer and as an artist over the past five years and it has been great to collaborate with them, other creative professionals, children and teachers to explore creative approaches to improving the lives and opportunities of children and young people from disadvantaged backgrounds.

Curious Minds website has some great examples of their work, blogs and news about creativity and young people and is worth a visit http://www.curiousminds.org.uk/

I was very excited to receive my copy of Adrian Barber's book 'something beautiful' when we returned from Ireland. The book captures, beautifully, one of my final projects at Action Factory and a project which will stay in my heart forever. I was so moved and inspired by people's willingness to share their ideas, memories and opinions about beauty and it reminded me that ideas don't have to be big or complex to work and engage people, they just need to connect with the imagination, allow space for genuine input and value people's contributions. So, when I had a bit of birthday money to spend (44 and still getting birthday money) I knew exactly what to spend it on.

You can buy the book from Blurb http://www.blurb.com/books/1241971

Designing my first website http://cathford.moonfruit.com has been a challenging and rewarding experience, and not in the way I anticipated. I thought I might have a problem with the technology, but that was straightforward and I would recommend moonfruit to anyone who is thinking of creating a website. I thought I might struggle with the design, and there were times when I found myself looking at a chaotic pile of badly colour co-ordinated and disjointed boxes, but in the end what I found most complex was finding a way of describing who I am and what I do.Having worked as part of an organisation for many years I had become adept at describing the organisation's mission and values, but stepping out on my own has required me to focus in on my own values and mission.

It took me back to one of the most significant moments in my career when I sat with Chris May and we began to design a training course for volunteers in participatory arts. The funding had been found, the participants signed up and somehow we needed to work out what it was they were going to learn. For the first time we had to unpick what it is that we do in participatory arts, what are our values, our skills, knowledge and experience and how do you measure those things? It was an empowering moment as we started to unravel the complex role - project manager, advocate, teacher and learner, problem solver, finance manager, performer, campaigner, professional partner, session planner......oh, and artist.

This process inspired the development of a competence framework for participatory arts by c-pal (Consortium for Participatory Arts Learning) which will enable participatory artists and organisations to assess and celebrate the core values and wealth of skill, qualities and experience which underpin our work.

So, as I set out on my new adventure as a freelance practitioner, sometimes feeling quite alone and wondering what it is I do and whether I have the skills and focus I need to succeed, I can already sense that the experiences and conversations, the partnerships with other artists and communities that I have had over the past 20 years will be there to draw on and inspire me and I await with eager anticipation the new experiences which will add to my rather random and extremely useful toolbox.