'That’s for me!'

Funnily enough, it was.

He got the job and left life in Putney, heading north to Cumbria with wife Sandra, baby Alfie and his other son, five-year-old George.

Now, six weeks into the his new role as Grizedale Arts director Adam Sutherland's number two, Alistair's enthusiasm for the next chapter in the Grizedale Arts story is infectious.

Refreshingly down-to-earth, he hardly stops to draw breath, telling me about the collaboration with the Henry Moore Foundation Contemporary Projects organisation at New York art centre P.S.1.

Entitled Romantic Detachment, it brings together road trips, performance, tea, hero worship, discussions and music and a lot of work on film format, all linked to Romanticism, and graced by the creative input of more than 40 international artists.

It runs at the New York art house from October 17 until November 17, then heads for British shores - eventually arriving at Lancaster's Folly and the Lakes in 2005.

The prospect of working for Grizedale excited Alistair so much that he left his project curator's post for the Government's 20,000-strong art collection in London. Looking after and purchasing artwork for embassies, consulates and 10 Downing Street, suddenly lost its appeal when the call from Grizedale came.

"Grizedale has an international reputation and it leads from the front in many ways," he explains over a mineral water in the Green Room, at Kendal's Brewery Arts Centre.

"It is the model for art institutions over the next century, an international agency for art and the movement from artists showing in galleries and into the community."

Pioneering and experimental artwork has, for many years, been the raison d'etre of Grizedale, some of which has drifted over the head of the general public.

However, Alistair is determined to get artists to work in a more constructive way, descending from the high art' pedestal and engaging with the masses on all levels: "We're taking work out to the people. It's really important that the avant-garde doesn't usurp traditional artwork.

"What's important is creative practice' and that it has an impact on society. It's all valid - as far as I'm concerned it doesn't matter about the label. It's the creative practice that concerns me."

Although, Alistair admits, like most things in life, you need to know the rules of art to understand it: "It's like going to a football match. You need prior knowledge."

Born in Derbyshire and brought up in and around Manchester, he moved to London to study fine art and art history at Goldsmiths at the same time as Damien Hirst.

Gallery work followed, including six years for Anthony D' Offay, on Bond Street, one of the world's largest commercial galleries.

Alistair is more than happy to be orbiting in the artistic circles of such a beautiful and unique part of the country, following in the footsteps of Romantics such as Ruskin: "It has a history of radical artists who made people rethink arts and culture."