Ice Frontiers Fellowships 2027

This fellowship program is being actively developed. If it resonates with you, contact us — your input may help shape the final program.

Summary

The Ice Frontiers Fellowship is a program for people who want to explore a different way of engaging with climate change — one rooted in acceptance, dignity, and personal responsibility rather than fear or guilt. Fellows are selected to participate in a sailing expedition through high-latitude waters, witnessing firsthand the regions most visibly transformed by climate change, and develop a creative project on the theme of Living with Climate Uncertainty in whatever medium best suits their voice. The 2027 expedition departs Boston on May 15th and arrives in Bergen, Norway on August 15th, following the Vikings Route through Newfoundland, Greenland, and Iceland.

Living with Climate Uncertainty

You already know the climate is changing. You’ve seen the data, felt the anxiety, and maybe burned out trying to keep up with the scale of it. You’ve watched institutions move too slowly, seen blame passed around endlessly, and wondered whether anything you do actually matters.

That exhaustion is not weakness. It’s what happens when the dominant narratives about climate leave no room to breathe — only denial on one side, and catastrophe on the other.

There is a third way.

Climate change is no longer a problem waiting to be solved. It is a reality we are already living in. The climate will not return to what it was. Accepting this isn’t giving up — it’s the first honest step. And paradoxically, it’s where agency begins.

When we stop waiting for certainty about outcomes, and stop deflecting responsibility onto governments, corporations, or other people, something shifts. We stop being spectators of a crisis and start being people who can actually respond — not because we can fix everything, but because we can own what is ours to own.

This isn’t about lowering ambition. It’s about building the kind of commitment that doesn’t collapse under the weight of uncertainty — one rooted in dignity and personal responsibility rather than fear or guilt.

We cannot act meaningfully in the face of climate change without first learning how to live in its presence. That inner work isn’t a detour from action. It’s what makes action last.

If this resonates with you — if you recognize the exhaustion of existing climate narratives and feel drawn to a different way of engaging — the Ice Frontiers Fellowship is designed for you. Over three months at sea, sailing through some of the regions most visibly transformed by climate change, you will have the time and the conditions to do that inner work — and to begin turning it into something you can share with others.

The Expedition

The 2027 expedition departs Boston around May 15th and arrives in Bergen, Norway around August 15th, crossing the North Atlantic via the Vikings Route — through Newfoundland and Labrador, across the Davis Strait, along the southwestern coast of Greenland, then onward to Iceland and the Faroe Islands. The journey offers a unique perspective on how this region has transformed over the last thousand years, combining geological, historical, and human dimensions.

You do not need sailing experience. You need to be curious, open, and ready to spend a summer at sea to inhabit uncertainty and be willing to share this experience with a broader audience.

The Creative Project

Fellows are invited to propose a creative project on the theme of Living with Climate Uncertainty. The format is entirely open. You can use a medium you are comfortable with such as writing, photography, film, podcast, music, visual art, or any other channel you can use to reach an audience. You can also choose the style. Your project may be a documentary, an artistic pursuit, a research project, or serve an educational goal. The expedition provides the experience. What you do with it is yours to decide.

Participation in the program does not create obligations to produce anything publishable. We accept the uncertainty of the experiment outcome.

Beyond the expedition itself, Ice Frontiers can provide assistance producing, editing, and distributing the creative works of fellows.

Financial Support

The Ice Frontiers Fellowship covers all living expenses aboard the boat during the expedition, including food, accommodation, and basic provisions.

It will also cover travel expenses to join the boat for the sea trial, travel to Boston prior to departure, and return home from Norway after arrival.

We are committed to making the fellowship accessible regardless of financial situation. Candidates who need a stipend to participate are invited to request the financial support they need in their cover letter. We will do our best to accommodate them.

Fellows who wish to have their creative work distributed by Ice Frontiers may be offered a publishing agreement that includes an advance on future royalties and a revenue share.

Eligible Candidates

The Ice Frontiers Fellowship is open to anyone who meets the following requirements:

Education. Candidates must hold a four-year college degree or equivalent. We are looking for people with the intellectual depth and communication skills to produce work that can genuinely shift how others think about climate.
Availability. Candidates must be available for the full duration of the expedition, from May 15th to August 15th, 2027. This is a hard requirement. Partial participation is not possible.
Health. The expedition takes place in remote waters far from medical facilities. Pre-selected candidates will be asked to provide a medical certificate confirming that they are able to participate in the program and manage their health independently without special accommodation.
Comfort with outdoor exposure. We operate the boat conservatively. Risk is constantly evaluated, but cannot be eliminated. Offshore sailing in sub-Arctic waters is physically demanding and involves inherent risks. Candidates should have previous experience with challenging outdoor conditions. They also need a good understanding of risk management strategies to adapt to a rapidly changing operational environment. Prior sailing experience is desirable, but not required. Candidates are asked to include in their resume any relevant outdoor experience that speaks to their comfort with physical and environmental uncertainty.
Sea trial. Pre-selected finalists will be asked to participate in a sea trial of at least one week during the winter 2026 – 2027 by joining the boat during its repositioning from British Columbia to Massachusetts. The sea trial is not a test of seamanship. It allows candidates to experience life aboard the boat, including spending several days at sea to confirm their commitment to the full expedition. It also allows us to evaluate candidates under realistic conditions.

Application

The application package consists of the following four elements.

Cover letter (1 page). Tell us why you want to participate. We are not looking for a case for why you are the best candidate. We are looking for an honest account of why this resonates with you and what you hope to find.
Resume. Include a section describing any sailing or boat experience, and a section describing relevant outdoor experience, particularly in cold or remote environments.
References. Provide the names and contact details of three people who can speak to your communication skills or meaningful outdoors experience.
Work sample. Share one example of your creative work in the medium you are proposing to use for your fellowship project.
Project description (3 pages). Describe the creative project you intend to develop during and after the expedition. Structure your description around the following five sections:

Significance. What is the question you want to pursue? What does this project allow you to explore that matters to you?
Innovation. How is your approach different from what has already been produced on this topic? What perspective or form does your project bring that is not already out there?
Approach. How do you intend to produce this work? Where do you want to go, what do you want to observe or collect, and how can the expedition shape the work?
Audience. Who do you want to reach and through what channels? Where would you want this work to be seen, heard, or read — a film festival, a publisher, a podcast network, an exhibition?
Materials. What equipment or materials would you need to bring on the boat to produce this work? Please be specific and realistic about what the expedition environment can accommodate.

Evaluation Process and Timeline

Applications open in August 2026. The submission deadline is October 31st, 2026. Shortlisted candidates will be invited for interviews in November. Finalists will be asked to join the boat for a sea trial of at least one week in December or January — location to be confirmed, tentatively in the Caribbean or along the Pacific coast during the boat’s delivery to Boston. Sea trial dates will be arranged individually with each finalist. Fellows will be announced on March 1st, 2027.