Adventure Canada is proud to serve as one of the polar travel operators for The Explorers Club. Many of our expedition team and clients are members of this prestigious organization. Read more about how together we are supporting research, scientific exploration, and conservation through the Young Explorers Program and Polar Film Festival.
Cedar Swan, CEO, Adventure Canada and Stefan Kindberg, Expedition Leader Emeritus, Adventure Canada and Board Member, The Explorers Club
About The Explorers Club
The Explorers Club was founded in 1904 as an international, multidisciplinary organization dedicated to the advancement of field research, scientific exploration, and resource conservation. The club’s headquarters in the Lowell Thomas Building in Manhattan, New York is the premier meeting place for the world’s great explorers and scientists who push the limits of their fields.
The Explorers Club strives towards the ideal that preservation of the exploratory spirit is vital. They believe what distinguishes an explorer from an adventurer is the acquisition and dissemination of scientific knowledge, and today the club’s members are just as dedicated as ever to preserving the organization’s mission to explore land, sea, air, and space.
Adventure Canada strongly supports science and scholarship, which goes hand in hand with The Explorers Club mission to share and disseminate scientific discovery. As partners, we see the value of providing opportunities for scientific and cultural learning in any adventure our clients and members take. This inspires us to bring fascinating speakers from a wide variety of disciplines into our on-board education program and in-person and virtual events.
Milbry Polk, co-founder of the Young Explorers Program and Fellow of The Explorers Club, on expedition near Upernavik, Greenland
Many Adventure Canada guests enjoy the opportunity to travelling with Explorers Club members, who act as part of our expert on-board expedition team. We also donate trips to Explorers Club staff members and even individual explorers who come on board to conduct their research.
These donations contribute to field research and communications, and we provide field experience and learning opportunities for Explorers Club staff at their headquarters. We are also proud to support special events such as their World Ocean Week and speakers forums, and to promote diversity within the club.
The Young Explorers Program
Adventure Canada and The Explorers Club partner to jointly offer the Young Explorers Program aboard select expeditions. This innovative program encourages and facilitates the spirit of exploration in young people interested in pursuits of science, art, and conservation.
By providing the opportunity for youth to conduct individual research projects on board, the program aims to encourage personal and professional growth through direct experience, academic study, cultural exchange, and connecting with members of the Adventure Canada and Explorers Club communities. We believe the alumni of the Young Explorers Program will be the next generation’s leaders of thoughtful policy, action, and communication.
Young Explorers Program participants enjoy a moment together aboard the Ocean Endeavour.
The Polar Film Festival
Each year, Adventure Canada collaborates with The Explorers Club to curate and host the Polar Film Festival. The festival showcases a diverse collection of feature-length films, documentaries, and shorts that feature issues and stories relevant to the world's polar regions, including films created by Northern artists. When this special event takes place at The Explorers Club headquarters in New York City, we host a welcoming reception for attendees to have the opportunity to learn more about Adventure Canada ahead of the keynote speaker and featured films.
The festival acts as a forum for alumni of the Young Explorers Program to showcase their findings and is home to award-winning films. Just one example is Trevor Wallace’s Arctic short film profile series, shot aboard Adventure Canada expeditions.
One of our primary aims at the festival is to facilitate the inclusion of Inuit perspectives. For example, Inuit cultural educator Martha Flaherty, inspired by her grandfather Robert’s 1922 film Nanook of the North, produced her own film in 2009 called Martha of the North, which documented her experience as one of the Inuit relocated from Inukjuaak, Nunavik (Québec) to Ausuittuq (Grise Fiord), Nunavut through Canada’s High Arctic relocation program.
Aaju Peter speaks to the importance of seal hunting in Alethea Arnaquq-Baril’s film Angry Inuk, while Myna Ishulutak’s documentariesQipisa and Tupiq
showcase the beauty and power of revitalizing traditional Inuit cultural practices.
Together through our participation in the Polar Film Festival, Adventure Canada and The Explorers Club celebrate the important role of the arts in communicating and disseminating scientific discoveries, exploration, and the thrills of the polar world.
