I couldn't have had a better induction to the vibrancy, energy and talent in the Cultural Olympiad outside London than on my visit to Bristol last Friday.

I'm still learning the ropes and wanted to understand what's going on, what excites people and what a difference we're making. So I asked our Creative Programmer, Richard, to pull together a programme. I came back to London inspired and excited by what people are already delivering in the South West.

A quick visit to the Arnolfini arts centre gave me a rare chance to take in the work of emerging contemporary visual and digital artists including Platform, one of the partners in the 'Antibodies' Inspire project. I had not nearly as much time as I'd have liked so I'll just have to come back.

But the highlight of the day was the perfomances I was privileged to see. Twelve-year-old Theo Altieri, one of the winners of the Teenage Rampage Inspire Project performed an acoustic set of three of his own songs. What a talent. Let's link him and his colleagues to the Young London Into Music Inspire project.

The very young morris dancers from the Dinosaurs Not Allowed (DNA) Inspire project also performed with gusto. DNA was part of the Count Me In weekend, which included other Inspire projects such as The Bristol Do and the nationwide Bandstand Marathon in late September.

It was great that our visit helped to bring these projects to the attention of the media, who are excited about the opportunities for local arts organisations within the Cultural Olympiad.

Thank you to everyone who took the time to join us and enlighten me. I'll be back!