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Science Engagement
Celebrate Science festival volunteers holding rubber ducks in bubbles

STREET Cosmos

a selection of activities at a Street Cosmos event

Photos by Rachel Deakin

STREET Cosmos is an inclusive creative programme of co-produced community events, formed as a collaboration between Blackhall Community Centre, Gaunless Gateway (Bishop Auckland), the Teesdale Community Resources Hub, community arts organisation NO MORE NOWT, artists and Durham University Science Engagement and Culture teams.  

The project aims to connect underrepresented communities across County Durham with the world-changing advances in space science research happening across the North East.

The project kicked off in May 2023 with an Art and Science Workshop. A group of 20 artists from across County Durham were invited to a special session at Durham University’s Ogden Centre for Fundamental Physics, to hold collaborative discussions with astrophysicists and explore ideas.

Blackhall Space Day

On 17 August 2023, Street Cosmos was launched at Blackhall Community Centre. As Blackhall was a founding partner of Street Museum, it will act as “Mission Control” for Street Cosmos, and a test bed for the programme.

Blackhall Space Day was a free event, that welcomed over 70 local children and their parents / carers to have fun with space, meet experts from Durham University, join in cosmos-themed art workshops, stargaze in an inflatable planetarium, and ask an alien about life on their planet!

Spotlight on Satellites

The next step in our mission was taking part in the Centre for Life’s “Spotlight on Satellites” event. Over 120 members of the Street Cosmos community, along with artists and members of Durham University’s Centre for Advanced Instrumentation, joined the event to explore the fascinating world of satellites and space technology.

County Durham and the North-East has a growing space industry, particularly in satellite technology, which many people have very little knowledge about. Bringing a large group from the wider Street Cosmos family to Life’s brilliant satellite event was a great opportunity to provide our community with a thrilling crash course in all things space related. More details of the day can be found by following this link.

The project is supported by the UKRI / Museums Association’s Mindsets + Missions fund