Leah is a 15 year old rock climber from NSW who has been climbing since age 10. She has always had an urge to climb, from a very early age she would scale tall trees which later led to rock climbing with her dad. She started competing in climbing competitions in 2015. We are proud to be apart of helping her achieve her olympic dreams.
I am privileged to see women keeping cultural practice alive, especially when we see young women following their grandmothers’ spirit and being positive examples to their communities, by awakening the spiritual strength in cultural practices, creating the inspiration for women to follow their dreaming. Being ‘on country’ with these ladies is truly amazing.
Choosing winners in the Adventures For Change Category was a real challenge, but to say that this project inspired us personally is an understatement. Meet Helen Smith and Lisa Edmonds, two totally epic women forging a path not just for women, but anyone who questions their ability to seek out adventure.
Competition in our Under 18's category was so fierce, that we just couldn't choose, so we gave it to two amazing young women. So, with out further ado, meet Eve Dowley 17yr old Australian snowboarder from NSW who is working hard to follow her dreams.
Meet Olivia Page and watch her winning submission for the TPL Women's Adventure Grant Film & Photography Category. Her project is to guide an intrepid all-female rock climbing team deep into the steep and remote north of Fiordland National Park in New Zealand.
Adventure offers us the opportunity not only to be empowered or inspired but also to dream and dare. When women connect with adventure in its many forms, we see something more profound occur - an opportunity to channel its benefits for the greater good.
Not only does it allow women to grow into more confident, compassionate, resilient and courageous humans, women often use its power to affect positive change around them.
In themselves
In their Communities
In our World.
Proudly Supported By:
The Travel Play Live Women’s Adventure Grant is not about ‘Insta-worthy’ pictures of smiling women with perfect hair or pink washing the adventure / outdoor space. It is a genuine effort to improve the visibility of women’s participation, skills and sense of achievement, promoting tangible results to encourage women of all experience levels and create an entry point for women and girls on the peripheral of adventure.
It all started with some conversations with adventurous women within our network, leaders in their own right, and all round epic women in early 2017 when they informed us that they had been knocked back from expedition funding because women’s adventures weren’t deemed “epic” enough.
Once we picked out jaws off the ground, we began to discuss a few things. Firstly what is the definition of epic, and what is it that causes such a controversial reaction when the words adventure and women are used in the same sentence and second, with women tipping the scales when it comes to participating in many outdoor active pursuits, why are women still not being seen or heard?
Epic does tend to conjure images of extreme adrenaline filled escapades. However, in more colloquial terms epic can be defined as ‘extending beyond the usual or ordinary’ and we don’t see any issues with applying this definition to the domain of women’s adventure.
Travel Play Live and a new wave of female driven adventure content creators speak often of differences in the feminine experience of the outdoors, and we certainly don’t think that that unique difference should exclude women from being able to access funding for their adventurous pursuits. And so the Women’s Adventure Grant was born.
Travel Play Live Women’s Adventure Grant 2018 is proudly supported by Rays, Jack Wolfskin, The Gutsy Girls Adventure Film Tour, Fully Rad, The Ageing Revolution and our crowd funding supporters within the broader Australian adventure community.
The Grant is not just about sharing stories, but actively supporting Australian Women within the Adventure space, helping turn the dreams of women of all ages, with a passion for adventure, change, exploration and expedition into a reality.
Our goal to get the adventure community involved and raise $15K - $20k in our crowdfunding campaign was successful, so we can:
Allocate a minimum of $5000 in cash funding within each category of the Travel Play Live Women's Adventure Grant.
Develop a mentoring program for the recipients and shortlisted entrants to connect them with established female mentors in the arena, equip them with the skills necessary to present their project to the broader community, manage their PR and ensure they fulfil their projects goals.
Provide recipients with media coverage and support in the lead-up, during and post project
Provide recipients with equipment from our partners, so not only will grant recipients be supported and mentored to get their dream off the ground, they will be equipped with technically innovative apparel and equipment to assist them in reaching their goals.
Establish ongoing funds and the groundwork to ensure that the Travel Play Live Women's Adventure Grant becomes a key event within the Australian Women's Adventure calendar.
We are honoured to have Hanny Allston as our Women’s Adventure Grant Ambassador.
Hanny is Tasmanian born and has achieved at the elite level in a range of running sports including orienteering, marathon, mountain and trail running. Hanny is the only athlete outside of Europe to have won a World Orienteering Title.. She has qualifications in Medical Science, Education, Life Coaching, Business and Sports Coaching, and is fascinated by the science behind performance. She is the founder of Find Your Feet which she now runs with her husband, Graham Hammond.
“It is an honour to become Travel Play Lives’ ambassador for their Women’s Adventure Grant. Exploring wild places, with hair wild, scratches and mud sneaking up my legs is where I find my truest self. Running along a remote trail feels like I am peering through a window into a place, breeding wonder for what lies ‘out there' but also to the hidden strengths that lie ‘within me'. I want to help women experience this sense of curiosity too. Fascinated by the art of preparing for such adventures, I feel like it is my calling to explore how we can master our own excellence and then share this with Australian women, so together we can foster adventurous, free spirits.”
You can find out more about Hanny from her website and the fabulous ways she supports adventure initiatives via her podcast.
Krystal Wright - Adventure Sports Photographer
"There truly aren't any barriers in this industry except the ones you have set yourself. Understandably, the tough thing to overcome is to find support and help that expedition or trip happen. I'm excited to see this new grants program launch to help other women carve out their way into the adventure realm and discover what their strength is. But more importantly, understand their weaknesses and how to grow and evolve from that vulnerable place.
Photo credit ©Andy Mann
Jemima Robinson - Adventure Reels Director
Incredible and inspiring women have always been out there having amazing adventures but they have typically been self-funded with their stories rarely being told through film. The Travel Play Live Women's Adventure Grant program is such an incredible initiative that will have a far-reaching impact on inspiring women to live adventurous lives and share their stories with others. Not only will it directly affect the recipients of the grants it will have a positive impact on all of us who get to read the stories and see the films. I am do delighted to support this incredible initiative and can't wait to see the stories, dreams and adventures come to life.
Richard Old - Fully Rad Adventures
Fully Rad Adventures has one key goal - get people outside and adventuring. Knowing that adventure means different things to different people we are constantly hunting for new ways to promote this ideal. We are behind the Travel Play Live Women's Adventure Grant because it not only fits within our ethos but because we believe it will create real change and momentum for women's adventure. Also, because we love what Travel Play Live does and the grant is a really cool idea!
The Women's Adventure Grant will fan the flames of adventure in different ways, for different women...and for every girl and woman watching.
This grant concept opens up an incredible opportunity for women to embark on an adventure and exploration and to continue the storytelling that empowers the next generation of young women to confidently Travel, Play and ultimately Live.
We believe this grant isn’t just an awesome idea that will make adventure possible for the four grant winners, it's the adventures they have that will go on to inspire many more. This is how awesome adventures and meaningful change begins, so we literally couldn’t hold ourselves back from being involved in supporting this initiative.
The women’s adventure grant honours all women. In applying for grants in the past, women have been told that their project, their passion, there goal is not big enough, not epic enough. Enough is enough. This grant will change the face of women’s adventure in Australia
There is so much to organise when planning for an expedition or adventure, financial help could be the difference between whether someone gets their dream off the ground or not, so I truly wish you all the very best in your quest to make this happen!
The Women’s Adventure Grant creates opportunities for girls and women to cultivate their adventurous spirit, to embrace their capabilities and to fire up their courage, and bravery. I stand behind the Women’s Adventure Grant wholeheartedly and ask that you do to!
At the heart of The Women's Adventure Grant is the message that women are able to do amazing things, and that together we can fulfil our dreams when we are surrounded and supported.
The Women's Adventure Grant is a bold and courageous initiative we have all been waiting a long time for. Adventure is in all of us, we all dream of doing something big which will change our lives and shift us out of our comfort zone.
Being big supporters of the benefits of adventure for all, and particularly passionate about an honest representation of females in media, we are well aware of the number of women out there with a passion to create change using adventure to do so. Yet they receive little in the way of support - until now.
It is easy to get caught up in life, put off what you really want to do and take things like your health for granted. When Melanie Chatfield, at the age of 20, was diagnosed with a degenerative eye condition called Retinitis Pigmentosa that results in blindness, she decided that to see the world in a new way was her only option.
There was only one way, one answer, if I was to live free of the fear of regret of never having taken the shot I had to attempt my biggest challenge yet. To be the first Australian women to row the Atlantic or any ocean solo and unassisted.
Paddling the Nile, was never going to be an easy feat. Yet Sarah Davis has set her heart on becoming the first person to paddle the length of it. She tells us, 'Like all expeditions, getting funding is challenging. It seems to be a shrinking resource in a growth area, as more people undertake some incredible expeditions for many worthy causes'.
