As we hunker down for another wave, I’m keeping a running list of my pandemic fails so far:

• Green smoothies (don’t do it)
• New York crossword puzzles (not getting any better)
• Grooming regime (past the point of no return)
• Accidental hugging
• Goal setting
• Inner peace and happiness (still working on it)

I’m taking note of my failures more often than my successes so, it came as a relief and with tremendous gratitude, when I got an email from Canada Council for the Arts this week informing us our application to the Digital Strategy Fund: Transformation of Organizational Models was successful!

This funding will be instrumental in helping us explore organizational models in the digital landscape as well as give us the resources needed to put our heads together with stakeholders and build a path to a sustainable future for the next generation of Deaf and disabled artists.

I expect that this journey will be terrifying in an existential sort of way and possibly even rife with failure but failure is that uncomfortable place where we discover, with humility, what we don’t know and how we can be better. Embracing failure gives us permission to be imperfect, to make mistakes and to grow and, in the case of green smoothies – make better decisions about what goes into my stomach.

If we’re willing to fail, we allow ourselves to be vulnerable and when we allow ourselves to be vulnerable, we let people in. We lead with the understanding that none of us can do this alone.

We’re looking forward to embracing failure with our friends at Tangled Arts, Arts Pond, Bodies in Translation and with Network Connector members, setting the stage for a sustainable and inclusive future for all of us.