Kielder Observatory: A New Strategy

Kielder Observatory Astronomical Society launches its new strategy for 2022-2025

Kielder Observatory: A New Strategy

We're delighted to publish the strategy for Kielder Observatory: a strategy that will guide our development for the next two years. It is the result of listening to myriad voices- our partners and stakeholders, our visitors, our trustees and staff. 

Early on in the process, it became clear that we were very clear on our mission: to create opportunities for people of all backgrounds and abilities to experience moments of inspiration, revelation, wonder and hope through observing the cosmos. However, we needed to articulate the outcomes more clearly to capture who we want to be as an organisation, what we want to contribute to place and how we want people to feel. If we deliver our mission, these are the outcomes we hope to achieve: 

• People: Everyone feels represented, welcomed, enriched and inspired, enabling equality of access to opportunities in science, whether as a one-off engagement, participation in study (formal or informal), and/or a career
• Place: We consistently inspire more people of all backgrounds and abilities to reflect upon their place in the universe and the fragility of the Earth, and catalyse individual and collective action in response to the need to protect our dark skies, and wider natural heritage
• Organisation: We welcome the uncertainty of fresh challenge and continuously improve our offer as opportunities emerge from new technologies, new audiences and evolving practice.

The strategy goes into more detail about how we will achieve that. At the heart of everything we do is inspiration. A clear sky at Kielder is truly special: the air is crisp, the silence is bewitching, the stars are mesmerising. It is a reminder of how lucky we are to be alive on this tiny little planet near one of the billions of stars in one of the billions of galaxies that exist in the known universe. That's the Kielder moment, and it can transform people's lives. 

We are proud of what we have achieved to date, but it feels as though we are just getting started. We hope you'll join us as we develop new activities, projects and programmes that convey that very special "Kielder moment" to as many people as possible. C

Catherine Johns, CEO

Please visit our Vision page to access the full strategy and read more about our aims and priorities