Epic Fail

RELEASE: 2020

Epic Fail was a project made with, by and for young people and their families about failure and wellbeing. Using the lens of Engineering and Art our primary school residencies explore failure as a virtue with young people using fun, engaging and interactive methods.

Taking up residence in 3 Bristol primary schools (May Park, Victoria Park and Begbrooke) Kid Carpet is exploring failure in each school with a female engineer, exposing children to women in STEM at a young age and exploring the impact on their wellbeing. The project used the lens of art and engineering as a captivating starting point for all activity. It saw Kid Carpet take over a space in the school and re-imagine it as a place of exploration with young people where we make, talk, create, play and test ideas . We worked alongside Mental Health Social Movement for young people Off The Record to design specific activity to take place during the residencies.

‘The children are still buzzing after last week! They had a blast.’

-Sophie Sturge, Year 5 Teacher,
May Park Primary School

Seventy five year five children undertook five workshop sessions which lasted for an hour. The lunchtime activities over the two weeks interacted with around 400 children. We gathered hours of audio and video to trawl through as well as 150 Fantastic and Unuseless Invention designs to contribute to our thinking for a wonderful performance about failing.

Epic Fail was supported by the Royal Academy of Engineering under the Ingenious Awards scheme, using public funding by the National Lottery through Arts Council England and Bristol City Council Originators Fund. An evaluation was designed by an evaluation consultant in the Science Communication Unit at the University of the West of England.