The twenty-first century has brought increased attention to science, leading to enhanced research in all areas of science including astronomy education. Astronomy plays a crucial in understanding the world around us, in strengthening science education and in enhancing public science literacy. It also has a unique power to engage a diverse community with science due to its universal appeal, to inspire wonder at all ages and to resonate uniquely with human questions about our place in the universe. However, astronomy should not be limited to this, as it has an interdisciplinary nature, which enables multiple career trajectories in science.

The RAS funded Making Space Programme (MSP) is an astronomy outreach project that aims to bridge the gap between under-represented groups (socially, economically and educationally disadvantaged) and astronomy. Guided by the Universal Design for Learning (UDL) principles, we aimed at creating an environment in which everyone regardless of their background or previous knowledge could benefit from our activities.

We developed new approaches that combine astronomy and arts in order to tackle misconceptions and to promote astronomy by presenting the content in ways that make the learning accessible to everyone. Initial findings have shown that our activities have a significant potential to engage meaningfully diverse learners with astronomy and participants were highly positive about our approaches. During our presentation, we will share the approaches that we have developed so far along with ideas on how it can be used to communicate astronomy.