Community Engagement Blog: Ooter Space

By Fiona Travers, Community Engagement Lead, UK ATC

Partnerships with local communities open up unique and exciting collaborations that help make our work at UK ATC accessible, relevant and engaging to new audiences. The aim of every community engagement project is to ensure that the interests, needs and voices of the community are incorporated into the project as much as possible.

Grassmarket Community Project is a charitable organisation with social enterprise at its heart. They provide a safe and welcoming space for vulnerable people to connect and learn. The Oot the Box group are the youngest of their 500 or so members. They meet once a week to explore new topics, gain confidence and develop new skills.

Last month members of Oot the Box presented their planetarium show to fellow members and staff that combined the topics of Mindfulness and Space. Attendees of the Ooter Space event were invited into the planetarium to experience a multi-sensory journey from our night sky into deep space, including a tour of the latest James Webb Space Telescope images to ‘Space Oddity’ by David Bowie.

Ooter Space marked the end of a five-week programme where group members chatted with Astronomers about the latest research, storyboarded planetarium content with their own creative ideas, designed event posters and developed their presentation skills.

At the start of the programme group members felt unsure and nervous but ready to give it a go. Following the event, group members felt more confident sharing their ideas, knowledge or work with others. Several of the members are neurodiverse and with their help we created a more inclusive experience for everyone.

‘Loved it! So informative and really impressed that the young members created such a great show. They presented so well and made all the information come alive. Really makes me want to learn more!! Well done :)’ Ooter Space event attendee.

‘I learned to find my voice and I would like to use it for more public speaking in the future.’ Oot the Box group member.

‘It was inspiring to see them engage with the process from start to finish, sharing ideas, getting creative, testing them out and developing their public speaking skills along the way! A really proud moment for us here at GCP.’ Project Support Worker, Grassmarket Community Project.