With the question ‘What is the Moon to you?’ at its heart, our  Greenwich Moon Time community engagement programme set down local roots for the Aluna project. In 2018 and 2019 we took a collective deep dive with diverse community and cultural groups and institutions in Greenwich into exploring the myriad meanings of the Moon.

The success of the GMT programme highlighted the appetite across cultures, generations and social spheres for an inspirational landmark like Aluna in Greenwich. It also showcased Aluna’s potential as an access point for education, celebration and community empowerment. 

With funding from Arts Council England National Lottery Project Grants, the Royal Borough of Greenwich Community Arts Fund, Royal Museums Greenwich and private donations, Stages 1 and 2 of the programme delivered over 60 workshops and co-design sessions involving over 3,500 participants from local groups and institutions.

Using the Moon as common ground, community groups and leaders took part in creative sessions to share their stories, memories, visions, and ideas for local events—four of which are outlined below. Word clouds created during the sessions illustrate what the Moon means to individuals and communities, and a gallery of selected moments from the workshops is also included.

The Greenwich Moon Time exhibition (July 2019), co-created with pupils from James Wolfe Primary School with Centre for the Deaf and its sister school Morden Mount, was Aluna’s first partnership with Greenwich Schools. It laid a foundation stone for Aluna Education, an inter-curricular creative programme, linked to the landmark, that will explore our relationship with the Moon.

The exhibition involved over 1,000 young people across the Early Years and Years 1-6 in creative and scientific exploration. A huge body of research, creative and scientific responses was produced in a short time, ranging from drawing, painting, printing, sound, history, creative and journalistic writing, to mythology and environmental science. Older pupils also learnt about curation with Melanie Vandenbrouck, Curator of Arts at the National Maritime Museum and co-curator of the museum’s exhibition ‘The Moon’ that opened in July 2019 in connection with the Apollo Moon landing’s 50th anniversary.

One of the key things the pupils took away was that the Moon is our mirror … the Moon = us!

Aluna and the National Maritime Museum’s Learning and Interpretations Team at Royal Museums Greenwich collaborated to develop a Mid-Autumn Harvest Moon Festival with Aluna’s partnering community groups. This public ‘comoonity celebration’ was in connection with the National Maritime Museum’s ‘The Moon’ exhibition (July 2019–January 2020), the Apollo Moon landing’s 50th anniversary celebrations and the development of Greenwich’s long-term lunar legacy – Aluna.

The Greenwich Vietnamese Women’s Group became the primary hosts and embraced this opportunity to co-design, host and perform at the event, which was attended by over 1,200 people. The Mid-Autumn Moon Festival – Tết Trung Thu – is a major festival in Vietnam, celebrated on the eighth Full Moon of the year. The women – some of whom were in their late 80s/early 90s – relished the opportunity to reminisce around their lunar culture, celebrate the Moon and work with the museum and Aluna. 

On the day of the festival, the group performed a traditional festival song and dance at the museum. The full-day programme also included the telling of moon stories from China, Vietnam, Africa and the South Pacific, a performance of Maori stories about the Moon, a Wicca ceremony to draw in the lunar Goddess, creative workshops and talks on the significance of the Moon in Hinduism and from a Native American perspective.

As well as bringing together diverse cultural celebrations and understandings of the Moon, the event also overcame barriers between the museum and the community it sits at the heart of.

Beauty, Awe and the Pale Blue Dot 

26 September 2019, National Maritime Museum

Judy Ling Wong CBE, painter, poet, environmental activist and Honorary President, Black Environment Network

How Moon gazing, nature connection and the feeling of awe can redefine personal and societal perspectives, happiness and wellbeing. Watch here.