Learning from a failed festival’s intrusion into an Indigenous community

This Viewpoint focuses on the value gained from the systematic analysis of failed events. A defined framework guides analysis of the event organization and context. The framework consists of three concepts: business model (firm- or customer-centric), value creation (product- or service-dominant logic), and sustainability (triple bottom line). A botched festival held on First Nation land in Canada is examined. Failure offers a chance to learn, and this Viewpoint presents an argument for practitioners to learn from failed events. This article also sparks academic consideration, including developing problem-focused investigations to expand our knowledge of the organization and event that failed. Scholars can learn from events that have gone awry,—weather disruption, venue cancelation, bankruptcy, performer no-show, Internet or electrical outages, etc., are all worthy subjects of empirical research.Footnote1