For 55 years, La Guilde has supported bold spirits and explorers from all walks of life through its adventure grants. In 2025, a new chapter is written with the creation of the History & Explorations Grant, which complements the historical adventure grant. Applications are open from February 28 to April 30, 2025 at www.la-guilde.org/les-bourses-aventure.
A legacy of adventure still alive
Since 1971, La Guilde’s Grants have enabled more than 500 adventurers to realize their exploration dreams, whether scientific, athletic, artistic, or environmental. Among past laureates are iconic figures such as vulcanologists Katia and Maurice Krafft or minimalist sailor Yann Quenet.
The 2025 edition is sponsored byÉdouard Cortès, travel writer and grant laureate in 2000. Through his expeditions and writings, he embodies the true spirit of adventure:
« I wanted to discover the world, collect faces, encounters, landscapes, like a mushroom picker. Adventure is the meeting between what life offers us and our willingness to respond to this opportunity.”
Two grants to encourage exploration in all its forms
In 2025, La Guilde now offers two grants, each endowed with €15,000:
- The Adventure Grant : faithful to its heritage, it supports world discovery initiatives combining self-surpassing and service to others, particularly projects with exploratory, athletic, scientific or ecological aims. With a total endowment of €15,000, it will support several projects for a minimum amount of €500.
- The History & Explorations Grant : newly created with the support of Hubert Sagnières, it accompanies projects highlighting history to better build the future. It aims to foster the emergence of new explorations and to encourage the desire to explore the roots of the present. With a total endowment of €15,000, it will support one or more projects for a minimum amount of €1,000.
Hubert Sagnières, initiator of this new grant, emphasizes the importance of memory and historical exploration:
« Many people don’t know their history because they don’t have access to information about where they live. Yet, there are so many extraordinary things that have happened. »
An opportunity for divers and underwater explorers
The seabed holds many mysteries and testimonies of the past. Whether you are a diver passionate about marine biodiversity, an underwater archaeologist in search of forgotten wrecks, or an explorer eager to document uncharted depths, these grants can support your project. The History & Explorations Grant could shed light on submerged fragments of the past, while the Adventure Grant would accompany daring expeditions beneath the ocean’s surface. A unique opportunity to delve into history and the unknown!
Why apply?
These grants offer laureates financial support, but also guidance and recognition within the community of adventurers and explorers. For Édouard Cortès, adventure is a state of mind: The new History & Explorations Grant allows us to grasp what has worked in the past to illuminate the present and the future. The tree needs deep roots in the soil of the ancients, but also a solid trunk and new branches.”
How to apply?
Applications are open until April 30, 2025. To apply and try to be part of this adventure, visit: www.la-guilde.org/les-bourses-aventure.
opening image © Gwenn Dubourthoumieu and Guillaume Jan, laureates 2023