After a chance encounter with a wild dolphin, followed by over two decades of fascination with cetaceans, artist Marijke Sjollema founded the Dolphin Swim Club in 2015. The art-project quickly grew into an organization that uses the healing power of art and nature to craft therapeutic experiences in Virtual Reality. The unique VR content is currently being used as a drug-free medicine in over 500 hospitals and healthcare institutions worldwide and is present in several scientific studies.

In 2017 the organization developed UnderwaterVR goggles that allow users to swim in real water, with virtual wild dolphins, and experience real therapeutic effects. As well as providing an entirely cruelty-free alternative for so-called dolphin-assisted therapies with captive dolphins.

The Dolphin Swim Club started out as a VR art-project in 2015, born out of the love of the ocean, the creatures living in it, especially cetaceans of course. Right from the beginning the entire project was embraced by Science, Healthcare and Animal Welfare. So ‘our’ virtual wild dolphins and seals are swimming their way into hospitals and healthcare institutions all over the world, to touch people lives. Children and adults alike, to distract and bring joy, particularly in dark, stressful and painful moments in their lives.

As we pioneered so successfully within the fields of art, medical science, animal welfare and technology, we would love to continue to build on this work and achievements.

Growing out of a small non-profit organisation we felt ready for the next step. We followed up by formalizing the Dolphin Swim Club, into the VR Planet Earth Foundation. We ensure that your donations and our generated revenues continue to be put to optimum use, now and in the future.

We have come together with this wonderful group of people, all highly regarded specialists in their own fields. Together they form an amazing body of knowledge and wisdom. So, here we have the honour of presenting to you the members of the board: