Dr. ISMAIL MAHOMED CULTURAL CORNER: Thoughts and Experiences - Political Correctness and Partnerships


Partnerships must be built on integrity and not on political correctness. Partnerships that are erected on political correctness are erected on unstable foundations. At some point, your partners and others will see right through you and your project. When your “political correctness” has been exposed you and your project will have no integrity and you may have difficulty in finding other partners. 

Portrait Illustration of Dr. Ismail Mahomed. Photo Credit: Facebook 

Partnerships are ethical when it protects rather than damages public trust. It’s ethical when the relationship is two-way between donor and organisation. It’s ethical when it brings meaning or increases the value of the work that is being created, the people engaged in the production, the recipient constituencies and the community in which the project is exercised. It needs to benefit and empower rather than destroy and leave nothing in its place. 

In simple words, don’t be afraid to say no. Don’t be afraid to close a project because it’s time is up. Don’t be afraid to make an unpopular decision. 

In 2008, when I took on the post of Artistic Director of the National Arts Festival I took a firm decision to shut down a particular project whose time I believed was up. It did incredibly outstanding work when it was initiated but in my view its time was up because the mission and outputs were not responsive to newer challenges and demands of a country that had already enjoyed seven years of a new democracy and newer opportunities. 

Mine was not a popular decision but I stood my ground, shut down the project and replaced it with a new initiative that created newer opportunities responding to the moment and which inevitably attracted increased partners, greater funding, broadened participation and catapulted more careers into the economy. The decision to shut down and start something afresh was calculated, strategic and responsive to changing conditions but it was totally respectful and empathetic of what had come before it and the people who were at the heart of it. 

Management is not only about juggling balls. It’s also about asking, “should we be playing ball and is this the right field to play on? Are we scoring goals that go beyond what is low hanging fruit? Do we truly believe in what we are doing is the best decision based on the values of our Constitution, the mission and values of our organisation and if the choices we make for others are in deed the choices that we would have made for ourselves?”

Dr Ismail Mahomed is the Director for the Centre for Creative Arts at the University of KwaZulu-Natal. He is a multi-award winning and multi-published arts management strategist and playwright with more than 35 years’ experience in cultural leadership positions. 

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