I STARTED in the spring of 2008, leaving a sensible job for one I thought would involve fewer evenings and weekends working (pause for anyone who works in the arts to laugh hysterically at my naivety and misjudgement).

I was taken on by the then chief executive David Parrish as education manager and given the job of developing a drama club with eleven members into a significant part of Creation’s work.

The first six months were horrible, Creation’s summer season was plagued with damp weather driving away audiences, I didn’t know my way around Oxford, and I realised a degree in Theatre Studies in no way equipped me for a life in the theatre.

Over that time though it was impossible not to fall for Creation’s shows.

That first year encompassed a promenade A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Animal Farm and Much Ado about Nothing at Oxford Castle, Hans Christian Anderson’s Magical Tales in the Mirror Tent at MINI Plant and Othello at Bonn Square Baptist Church.

Inspiring, eccentric, and moving productions that it was an enormous privilege to be part of.

By the time Othello was on, Creation’s finances were in a bad state and when we got the stark news that it was time to take pay cuts or give up and close I didn’t feel any hesitation in getting firmly behind the cause.

I believed in the shows, I believed in the incredible team I worked alongside and I believed in David’s determined and tenacious leadership. More than that, I had grown to understand how special the Creation audience was and that the opportunity to share work with them was worth fighting for.

We were fortunate that we successfully dodged closure then and enjoyed a further exciting three years which included glorious productions at the Said Business Schools rooftop amphitheatre and our first ever production in Blackwell’s bookshop Dr Faustus.

Following David’s emigrating to Norway, and a disastrous wet summer 2012 saw us facing closure again and the reigns of chief executive for Creation somehow fell to me.

We didn’t have the funds or stability to recruit externally so I took on the role reassuring our board of trustees that I had ideas for shows for the first year and would step down once I had run out.

20 shows later, and 107,715 audience members later I’m sorry to say for anyone whose been hoping to have a crack at steering the good ship Creation there are more ideas and possibilities for future shows than ever.

This summer we have two particularly exciting and ambitious projects with Brave New World in the Westgate and Swallows and Amazon’s in Oxford University Parks.

The last six years have been fantastic and we financially are on the strongest footing we have ever been. Making the numbers add up without compromising our artistic ambition gets harder year on year though.

Actors fees, venue hire, and physical materials needed to make the shows continue to rise and we do everything we can not to reflect that in our ticket prices.

We are currently overhauling our fundraising capacity so that we can fill this emerging gap in our finances without passing that cost onto our audience who are the ones that have enabled us to get this far.

Coming to work for Creation 10 years ago has involved more late nights, weekends and anti-social working than I could have even dreamed possible but I wouldn’t have it any other way.

However challenging things can be 22 years since we were founded it feels as though we are only just at the beginning of our story which I have every confidence will be packed with as much eccentricity and surprise as our shows.