AN AUDIENCE WITH ADVENTURE 2018

After taking the audience by storm last year, we’ve invited expedition leader Dave Lucas back to the stage to host Audience with Adventure in 2018! Dave lives for adventure, and has spent over 22 years working as an expedition guide and safety consultant in remote places. 

He has travelled to over 90 countries, and spent a total 72 months on expeditions, often immersing himself into the unique communities he encounters all over the world. When guiding a trans-African climbing expedition in the South Sinai, Dave worked with Bedouin tribesman in 2002. The great wealth of unclimbed rock the Sinai had to offer drew him back to lead teams of wanting climbers. But it was in 2007, after being invited to work on an EU development project, that he really started forging the strong bonds he has today with the Bedouin, many of whom are now great friends.

More recently, Dave’s experience living and working within the Mbendjele tribe in Congo has really pushed home the immense level of responsibility that foreigners have when visiting small remote communities, an insight among many others which he’ll be exploring with our panel on the night.

Marina LeGree is the founding director of Ascend Athletics, a not-for-profit developing young Afghan women into leaders through the sport of mountain climbing. Their efforts this year were rewarded, when Hanifa Yousoufi successfully reached the summit of Mt Noshaq, becoming the first Afghan women to stand on the top of her home countries highest mountain.

While they train to achieve tangible climbing feats of known peaks and first ascents, their long term vision is to develop strong female role models and leaders who are equipped and motivated to help their society transition to peace.

Marina brings a unique understanding of the challenges and opportunities facing women and young people in Afghanistan after spending over a decade working in the country and other unstable environments. She has created development strategies and managed programs for the US Agency for International Development, GIZ, and the International Organisation for Migration. She has also worked as a senior trainer and mentor to the United States government in Afghanistan, providing support to US civilians and troops in their stabilisation mission.
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All-in-all she is an outdoor enthusiast who is passionate about preserving nature and securing access to the outdoors for all people.

After 15 years spent working in telecoms in London, Emma de Heveningham took a well-earned career break in 2012.  Her travels over the next few years gradually drew her up into the regions of Ladakh and Spiti of the Indian Himalaya.  Here, where life takes place above 4000 metres, she was inspired by the resilience of the local communities who’s day-to-day  lives were subjected to enormous challenges threatening their very existence. 

She crowdfunded and set up a travelling community cinema to share films about local history and culture, wildlife conservation and healthcare. Solar-powered and completely off-grid, the cinema can reach some of the most remote villages and nomadic communities on earth. The unique nature of the Creative Power Project saw her speaking at the Royal Geographic Society about her initiative earlier in 2018 as part of their Microlectures series.

Although she is periodically tempted back into corporate life in London, whenever time allows, Emma can be found back in the mountain villages of northern India where she has been working on photographic and ethnographic research projects, as well as keeping the travelling cinema on the road to new destinations.

Luca had always dreamed of travelling EVERYWHERE and in 2005 he eventually drove his own Ford Probe from New York City to Panama City and he never looked back! As an overland driver and mechanic, he travelled in over 100 countries across 5 continents. Seeking a new adventure in 2015, he qualified as a Paramedic, with a view to combining this with his love of travel.

In addition to this he is a Fellow of the Royal Geographical Society, Wilderness Expedition Medicine Faculty Member, PHTLS instructor, Mountain Leader and Water Rescue Technician. Luca is also a HEFAT instructor, delivering hostile environment training to journalists both in the UK, before deployment and in country, during deployment.

In the last 2 years Luca has gone on to lead expeditions in places such as Afghanistan, Iraq, Iran, North Korea and Chad just to mention a few. Most recently, he led a team up onto to Yamal Peninsula to live and travel with Siberia’s Nenets nomads on their reindeer migration within the Arctic Circle. Experiencing the truly extreme conditions in which they live; he learned of their intrinsic relationship with the reindeer herds and the daily struggles necessary to their survival.

An Audience with Adventure
Hosted by Secret Compass in association with Kendal Mountain Film Festival

21st November 2018
6:30pm – 10:30pm
Canada Water Theatre, 21 Surrey Quays Road, London SE16 7AR

How to get there:

Tube: The Jubilee line and the Overground stop at Canada Water Station
Bus: Find bus routes here.

Tickets: £19.50 + booking fee

Terms and Conditions apply.