|||

letting us know that they know

The thing about conflicts of interest is that they are inevitable. I’ve experienced them from various sides: I’ve benefited from them, missed out because of them (perhaps), others have benefited from them because of me … you get the idea. I’ve seen them involve friends, colleagues, husbands, wives, partners, families, former lovers. In a few situations the conflicts of interest were named, but nothing was changed or adapted because of them. In even fewer cases (perhaps two that come to mind) the conflict was named and the decision-making process was adapted. In all these cases we could never know who – or how — people have been privileged or disadvantaged by the conflict. Indeed, I’d argue that in any decision-making process our cultural, racial, gender-based, political, aesthetic, social (the list could go on and on) understandings of the world and people act as conflicts of interest (we just call them biases). Given all of these things, how could I ever know that I’m making the best possible decision for the people and organisations involved?

But the really insidious thing about obvious conflicts of interest (marriage, partners, friendship, etc) is how they affect people on the outside of the situation. The simple perception of a conflict of interest – by those just on the periphery of the event or decision) — is enough to cause righteous frustration, anger and bitterness.

In the dance community people just say that conflicts of interest are inevitable because it’s a small field”. But this is not the problem. I know of no organisations in dance that have publicly announced conflicts of interest and the steps they took to counter the conflicts.1 Such a simple action would at the very least let the dance community know something they already know. More importantly, the organisation responsible for the conflict of interest would be letting us know that they know.


  1. But I’d love to hear different.↩︎

Up next hazelnut chocolate I’ve had this blog since November 2008 and in that time I’ve never posted either a recipe or anything about conflicts of interest. Here’s a recipe anamnesis italiano In 2009 I made a short film called Anamnesis with Cormac Lally, Bagryana Popov, David Corbet, and Liz Jones. Around that time I asked Marika Rizzi
Latest posts singing and dancing losing oneself given a price on remembering everything Godin on ideas three chairs growth felt in christ Freelance Dance Artists’ Working Ecology he danced listening and pain Somatics unlimited body politics vernacular activities one sentence email tips scrutiny ripeness Dance after lockdown - living with paradox mini essay Esther May Campbell a community of practice a nest for hope Colin, Simon and I archive power of a lifetime now: 4 January 2023 Editorial: Making choreography, making community Fading out the human presence: A conversation between Barbara Stimoli, Titta Raccagni and Simon Ellis brittle with relics the land in you Attention Adam Phillips on attention