POLICY ON GOVERNANCE, ETHICAL CONDUCT, AND CONFLICT OF INTEREST MANAGEMENT

EFFECTIVE DATE: January 25, 2024

UPDATE: November 28, 2025

1. Mandoline Hybride mandate

Mandoline Hybride’s mission is to develop contemporary art in various forms, with dance as its anchor. Mandoline Hybride’s activities support a large number of arts professionals, researchers, and curators through its performances, training programs, services, and production activities.

Its mandate revolves around ongoing initiatives (Regards Hybrides, Salon58, FURIES – contemporary dance festival, L’Hybride – café & bookstore, Hautes fréquences) that require constant monitoring to ensure they remain relevant to the needs and values of the communities they serve.

Special projects also punctuate the organization’s calendar of activities.

2. Principles and definitions

2.1 Principles

Mandoline Hybride fulfills a mission of public interest and must carry out this mission with professionalism, integrity, and fairness in order to preserve and strengthen the bonds of trust that characterize it.

This Policy on Governance, Ethical Conduct, and Conflict of Interest Management sets out the values, standards, and principles of ethics and conduct that guide and shape the behavior of Mandoline Hybride’s directors, employees, collaborators, volunteers, and audiences. It aims to foster harmonious relationships between the parties, as well as with the communities affected by Mandoline Hybride’s activities.

This policy is loosely based on codes of ethics used by organizations in the cultural sector, including those of the Conseil des arts et des lettres du Québec (CALQ) and Dazibao.

It contains appendices and tools to guide the decisions of the various individuals involved with the organization.

2.2 Definitions

The administrator sits on the board of directors of Mandoline Hybride.

The term “team members” refers to all Mandoline Hybride employees, collaborators, and volunteers.

The term “audiences” refers to individuals who attend Mandoline Hybride activities as spectators or who participate in them as participants.

3. Values

3.1 Professionalism

The concept of professionalism, in the context of Mandoline Hybride’s activities, includes, on the one hand, the duty of discretion and confidentiality that must be exercised by Mandoline Hybride’s administrators and team members. This means, among other things, not commenting publicly on issues, debates, or controversies involving the beneficiaries of our projects or our key partners. It also means exercising discretion with regard to non-public and/or confidential information to which administrators and team members are exposed in the course of their duties with the organization.

Furthermore, the concept of professionalism refers to the duty of impartiality or neutrality that Mandoline Hybride expects from its administrators and team members. This may involve displaying an impartial attitude toward the various people with whom the organization collaborates, or not allowing personal inclinations to take precedence over the needs and/or mandate of the organization when making decisions. 

In addition, Mandoline Hybride expects its administrators and team members to demonstrate diligence in the performance of their duties (whether paid or volunteer), as well as cordiality and kindness in their interactions with their many interlocutors. 

Finally, the concept of professionalism refers to the duty of administrators and team members to respect the organization’s guidelines in their decisions and actions.

3.2 Integrity

The concept of integrity refers to the trust that Mandoline Hybride places in its administrators and team members. It involves demonstrating transparency and sincerity in the interactions, relationships, and communications that punctuate the work of everyone within the organization.  The concept of integrity allows the various people who collaborate in Mandoline Hybride’s activities to feel secure in the presence of colleagues who are trustworthy.

3.3 Equity 

The concept of equity is central to Mandoline Hybride’s guiding principles and informs many of its management decisions. Gender equality, the principles of decolonization in practices and discourse, and the diversification of artistic programming are priorities for Mandoline Hybride. Within its various projects (Regards Hybrides, Salon58, FURIES, L’Hybride — café & bookstore), the presence of Indigenous artists, people of color, and members of queer, trans, and/or minority communities is considered the norm, not the exception. These individuals present their work and engage with the public through performances, meetings, panels, and discussions. 

Mandoline Hybride also puts its values into action through shared curatorship, the promotion of its projects from a decolonial perspective, and self-education and knowledge-sharing initiatives with the cultural community. The organization is committed to supporting the struggles against colonial domination, sexism, racism, and discrimination through concrete actions including, among others, targeted volunteer work, the dissemination of discourse related to these struggles, the implementation of structuring projects to stimulate encounters between Indigenous and non-Indigenous artists, a focus on promoting Indigenous languages and traditions, and various forms of territorial recognition. 

Intersectional feminist perspectives also guide the company’s choices in all its initiatives. Mandoline Hybride adopts gender-neutral language in its internal and external communications, promoting neutrality and, when necessary, using doublets and abbreviated doublets. Mandoline Hybride’s various artistic programs (Regards Hybride, Salon58, FURIES, L’Hybride — café & bookstore) are driven by a firm commitment to promoting the work of women, transgender people, and non-binary people.

4. Ethical conduct

4.1 Ethical conduct of administrators and members of the Mandoline Hybride team

Administrators, employees, collaborators, and volunteers must act with professionalism, integrity, and fairness.

Administrators and team members are bound to discretion regarding what they learn or become aware of in the course of their duties and are required to respect the confidential nature of any information received, where applicable. 

Administrators and team members may not use confidential or privileged information communicated or transmitted to them for their own purposes. During and after their term of office, they have a duty not to take advantage of their participation.

The administrator or team member shall demonstrate impartiality in matters closely related to their areas of competence, expertise, and mandate.

The administrator or team member must not exceed their official duties to assist individuals or legal entities in their dealings with Mandoline Hybride when this could give rise to preferential treatment.

The administrator or team member must not directly or indirectly use Mandoline Hybride’s property, including leased property, or allow its use for purposes other than those officially approved by the board of directors and senior management. 

The administrator or team member shall show consideration for all persons with whom they interact in the performance of their duties. They shall be courteous, attentive, and discreet toward the persons with whom they come into contact in the performance of their duties.

The administrator or team member has read and understood Mandoline Hybride’s policies and commitments regarding harassment prevention, sustainable development, and environmental responsibility, as well as privacy protection and personal information management. They act in accordance with these values in the course of their duties with Mandoline Hybride.

In case of doubt, the administrator or team member must always exercise discretion or act in accordance with the values and ethical conduct contained in this document.

4.2 Ethical conduct of Mandoline Hybride publics

At all times, audiences attending or participating in Mandoline Hybride activities must behave in accordance with the following code of conduct:

  1. NON-VIOLENCE: No aggressive, violent, or inappropriate comments or behavior toward Mandoline Hybride teams or members of the Mandoline Hybride audience will be tolerated. Mandoline Hybride gives absolute priority to respecting the physical, psychological, and emotional integrity of each individual.
  2. SOLIDARITY: Gender and sex equality, inclusion, and accessibility are priority values for Mandoline Hybride. In this spirit, Mandoline Hybride does not tolerate any discriminatory comments or behavior in the context of its activities.
  3. CARE FOR PLACES & COMMUNITIES: Mandoline Hybride encourages respect and kindness towards one another, but also towards the places and spaces occupied by the organization.
  4. CONSENT: Mandoline Hybride defends and applies a culture of consent. Mandoline Hybride values the autonomy of each individual and their ability to determine their own needs, desires, and limits. Mandoline Hybride does not tolerate any non-consensual behavior in the context of its activities.

Each activity carried out by Mandoline Hybride may provide audiences with a specific code of conduct in full compliance with the principles set out above.

See FURIES – contemporary dance festival festive code of conduct: https://furiesfestival.com/guide-de-conduite-festive/

5. Conflict of interest management

5.1 Definition of a conflict of interest and its application

      1. A conflict of interest arises in any actual, apparent, or potential situation that could compromise the independence and impartiality required to perform a function, or in which a person uses or seeks to use the attributes of their position to obtain an undue advantage or to provide an undue advantage to a third party.
      2. Mandoline Hybride has established a non-exhaustive list of conflict of interest situations and the procedure to follow in such cases.
      3. The list and procedures below sometimes apply only to directors, and sometimes also to team members.

5.2 Examples of conflicts of interest

      1. When an administrator participates in a Mandoline Hybride project and receives compensation for doing so;
      2. When an administrator or team member has a close family relationship or significant relationship with a person who benefits from Mandoline Hybride projects or is employed by Mandoline Hybride;
      3. When an administrator or team member feels unable to remain impartial regarding a person whose ties to Mandoline Hybride need to be discussed or reconsidered.

5.3 Procedure in the event of a conflict of interest

      1. Upon appointment, the director must complete and sign a form declaring any conflicts of interest involving team members, partners, and the organization’s projects (see APPENDIX 1 – Declaration of Interests Form). The director must then update this form annually or as needed.
      2. At the beginning of each board meeting, directors must declare any potential conflicts of interest related to the items on the agenda.
      3. In the event of a conflict of interest affecting Mandoline Hybride’s affairs, the director and team member shall ensure that they do not seek to influence, directly or indirectly, decisions concerning activities from which they or their relatives derive personal benefit.
      4. In the event of a conflict of interest involving a sensitive or problematic situation, the director or team member affected by the conflict of interest may withdraw from the discussion while the item causing the conflict of interest is being discussed. Other directors or team members may also ask the person with a conflict of interest to withdraw from the discussion.

5.4 Policy dissemination

    1. This policy is included in the welcome document for members of the Mandoline Hybride board of directors;
    2. This policy is included as an appendix to all employee and collaborator contracts;
    3. This policy is available for download on the Mandoline Hybride website;
    4. This policy is available in the form of various tools and guides so that it can be applied more specifically in given contexts (e.g., for FURIES audiences).

APPENDIX 1 – Declaration of interests form

I hereby declare the following conflicts of interest or apparent conflicts of interest for the fiscal year ________ in connection with my participation on the Board of Directors of Mandoline Hybride.

First and last name__________________________________________________________

Signature__________________________________________________________________

Date______________________________________________________________________

ANNEX 2 – Resources