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COURTESY PHOTOS
FAILING BETTER with Saugatuck Center for the Arts | by John Kissane
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hildren know that failure is part of life. No one ties his or her shoes perfectly on the f irst attempt. Little by little, we improve; tying a shoe, impossible at the f irst try, soon becomes easy enough that we don’t even have to think about it. Failure, never comfortable, was necessary to get from there to here. But we get a little older. Failure, always frustrating, starts to become embarrassing. Mortif ying, even. So we avoid it. Can’t sing? Just turn down that karaoke invitation. Can’t dance? Don’t try. Thus the walls of the world, so distant when we were young, begin to close in on us.
There will be an outdoor obstacle course for bicyclists, in which participants are encouraged to (safely) fall. Attendees will have an opportunity to participate in karaoke, except that the lyrics to the dozen songs on offer—classic, recognizable songs—will have been changed to be about silly failures. In another room, you can write a letter to your self about a time you experienced failure. The event’s been designed thoughtfully, providing a variety of options, some loud, some quiet, in order to appeal to everyone. From 3 PM to 4 PM, the Grand Finale, featuring music, stories, and more, will take place. The Montagues will host a special address, sharing stories of their own failures. In recognition that not all children can sit still in a theater for an hour, audio from the event will be piped throughout the building: one example among many of the thoughtful attention to different stages of life that the exhibition is paying. The exhibition itself pulls back the curtain on the creative process, revealing
Br a d a nd K r i s t i Mont a g ue , aut hor s of Fa i l- a-br at ion, w a nt u s to pu s h b a c k a g a i n s t t ho s e w a l l s . T hei r de but e x h ibit ion, We Hop e You Fa i l B e t ter, w i l l g r a c e S au g at uc k C enter f or t he A r t s Nove mb er 9 t h t h rou g h M ay 16 t h . Ta k i n g pl a c e 1 PM to 4 PM on Nove mb er 9 t h i s “Fa i l- a-br at ion,” a n e vent me a nt to enc ou r a g e a l l of u s to f a i l, w he t her to dd ler s , old s ter s , or a nyone i n b e t we en . “We wanted to have a big community celebration for all ages,” said W hitney Valentine, Director of Education and Exhibitions. “Fail-a-bration” will represent SCA’s f irst time using all the spaces in its building; each space will have multisensory engagements designed to drive home the exhibition’s message in as fun and memorable a way as possible.
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the bumpy, trial-and-error process by which a picture book is made, including through preliminary sketches, animated shorts, and papier-mâché sculptures. But it’s more than that, too. An 800 number will be available for people to leave messages about their own failures, or to provide encouragement. Many of those messages will be made available for listeners, a reminder that, while our failures can cause us to feel cut off from others, we’re in fact part of a larger community of people trying to get things right. W hile this is the only exhibition of its kind currently planned in Michigan, there will be others taking place across the country and even the world. In t a l k i ng about t he i mpor t a nc e of t he e x h ibit ion, Va lent i ne poi nted out t hat ne a rly 1 i n 3 c h i ld ren have a n x iet y. “We wa nted to prov ide a plat form for t he f ac t t hat f a i lu re i s cr ucia l.” T here a re sa fe way s to t r y ne w t h i ng s, she poi nt s out, one of wh ic h i s le a rn i ng to rec og n i z e t hat f a i lu re i s not ju st not t he
end of t he world, it’s a posit ive t h i ng. “We a l l have to rem i nd ou rselve s of t hat,” she sa id. “K ri st i Mont a g ue hersel f w i l l tel l you she’s a per fec t ion i st.” Brad Mont a g ue ha s de scribed how he u sed to see m i st a ke s a s c at a st roph ic . “I fail a lmost ever y day,” Va lentine said. “I’ve missed appointments.” Parenting, too, can be a common source of anxiet y about failure. “Haven’t we a ll promised we’d be different k inds of parents than we ended up being? You want to show up a certain way, be a certain way, and it just doesn’t happen.” This can be devastating. In these instances, she said, the example children set is one we should follow. “Some k ids think nothing of saying, ‘Look, I peed my pants!’” The Montagues’ hopes for the exhibition, and the SC A’s, extends beyond the hope that people will have a great time. It’s that those people will return to their communities and a llow themselves permission to fail, and then to fail better: to tr y new things, and to discover they love them. Even when you fail, Brad Montague has written, “you are not a failure. Failure is an experience, not an identity.” And it doesn’t have to be catastrophic, or embarrassing, or traumatic. As We Hope You Fail Better and “Fail-a-bration” remind us,” it can be a blast. ■