Women’s Adventure Grant

$20,000 up for grabs; paving the way for female participants and pioneers in the growing Australian Adventure Landscape

Here at Travel Play Live, we know big adventures can come with even bigger costs, so along with our community we are here to help make it happen. We have $20,000 + gear up for grabs for four Australian Women who display a creative and innovative approach towards adventure in the following categories:

• 18 & Under
• Adventure for Change
• Adventure Film & Photography
• Over 50’s

Why this news worthy?

Whilst growth has occurred in the number of women entering outdoor vocations, adventure expeditions and participation in active adventure sports, white men are still the dominant face in outdoor recreation, outdoor education, and wilderness adventure pursuits. The role, place, and often invisible contributions of women working in this space have become an area for increased scrutiny

Multiple researchers have identified that, “males dominate in many arenas, and masculine characteristics and behaviours are often rewarded whilst female voices go unheard. Collective experiences of many women in outdoor and adventure pursuits suggest that at times they feel relegated, side-lined, and undervalued. For women, numerous authors have identified experiences of alienation and invisibility over the past 30 years or more…”

We are here to change that.

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 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.

Grant Website: http://www.travelplaylive.com.au/womens-adventure-grant/

Grant at a glance:
Applications open 1st Jan – 28th Feb 2018
Winners Publicly Announced at Awards night in Sydney 3rd May 2018

See also:
Women & Girls in the Outdoors