I’ve started a year-long collaboration with poverty-fighting organisation Point North

Point North chief exec Michelle Cooper (in person and on 3 screens) speaking at the event while guests awaited their medieval feast.

Really happy to say I've recently embarked on a year-long commission with Point North (formerly Durham Community Foundation) to help them document the vital work they do fighting poverty and enriching lives across County Durham and the Tees Valley.

If you've followed my work at all over the past decade or so, you'll know that working with and documenting the people holding our communities together (you know - the relentlessly hard working, seldom acknowledged and always poorly rewarded folk filling the gaps created by our society's many systemic injustices) has, for a very long time, been what I'm genuinely passionate about doing. So in many ways this is my dream job and I'm really excited that I'll be meeting and working with so many grassroots community groups across the North East over the coming year.

It's not a full-time role, so I'll still be pursuing my own projects, but there is so much crossover that I'm certain they will feed into and strengthen one another. Indeed at my first "assignment" for Point North - filming at their very joyful & impressive High Sheriff Youth Awards last Thursday evening at Kynren - involved filming with several people (such as Christine Thomas of Building Self Belief who I've worked with in the past, and it was fantastic to see them getting recognised for doing their thing.