Polar Outreach Catalogue

The French polar institute (Ipev) was in charge of coordinate education and outreach policy during IPY for France. Scientific institutions concerned by polar sciences were encouraged to get involved in outreach initiative with Museums, associations acting for scientific information, educational networks, etc. The challenge was to organize everywhere in France, during the 2 years, a continuous exchange between scientists and the general public to improve the awareness of the importance of evolution of polar regions for the future of the planet. An organisation was set up, promotional and educational materials were produced, permanent relationships with media and communication networks were established and a website created. The Web site give access to extensive informations about polar regions and scientific activities. It offers a detailed program of all the events proposed everywhere in France. It was one of the key points of our communication policy. A partnerships with Ministry of education was also established to allow the realisation of numerous class projects. The mobilisation of all the actors concerned by outreach and education everywhere in France has been larger than anyone anticipated. A multitude of events of various importance were organized: ambitious national exhibitions in Museums, medium exhibitions in little towns, series of conferences, festivals of films , workshops, street animations, artistic exhibitions, etc. Some stats:23 major national exhibitions 67 other kind of exhibitions. A total of more than 7000 days of exhibit various events. More than 200 lectures. More than 1 500 000 visits for the IPY and IPEV web sites, 6 100 000 consulted pages since February 2007