Background to the workshop

At the start of April 2022, Creative Commons released a policy paper called “Towards Better Sharing of Cultural Heritage — An Agenda for Copyright Reform” developed by members of the Creative Commons (CC) Copyright Platform and CC friends from around the world, which addresses the key high-level policy issues affecting access and sharing of cultural heritage, notably by galleries, libraries, archives and museums (GLAMs).

This paper calls for policies that support better sharing of cultural heritage in the public interest. And that’s exactly what we are planning to do. We are developing our first ever CC Open Culture Guide for Policymakers to address the copyright barriers to universal access and reuse of knowledge and culture faced by GLAMs. To initiate this process, we held an interactive virtual workshop for policy experts and open culture enthusiasts to explore key policy issues and gather insights into how to effectively engage policy makers in our work. 

Workshop Recap

CC hosted a workshop on 10 May 2022, “Towards Better Sharing of Cultural Heritage,” which sought to bring together folks from the worlds of open culture and policy. The workshop started with a welcome address from Creative Commons CEO Catherine Stihler, followed by a brief overview of the main policy issues affecting better sharing of cultural heritage.

Our four panelists took to the stage to share their insights into ways to develop impactful and effective guidance to reshape policy. We were joined by:

• Brigitte Vézina | Director of Policy and Open Culture at Creative Commons (Moderator)
• Ramon Lugo, Legislative advisor, Senate of the Republic of Mexico
• Maria Drabczyk, Head of Policy and Advocacy & Board Member, Centrum Cyfrowe
• Mark Foster, Owner and Managing Director, Strategic Advisory Management
• Shantal English | Copyright and Related Rights Manager, Jamaica Intellectual Property Office

Check out this Twitter thread with top tips from our panel ⬇️ 

1/ A ? of tips from our panel at CC’s ‘Towards Better Sharing of Cultural Heritage’ workshop. #OpenCulture

CC’s @Brigitte_Vezina asked the panel for their insights from developing effective guidance to reshape policy ? pic.twitter.com/J8RKRDMw4e

— Creative Commons (@creativecommons) May 10, 2022

After hearing from our panel of policy experts, we moved to the interactive part of the workshop. Attendees were divided into four breakout groups to co-create an initial roadmap for developing a guide for policymakers to support the public interest goals and mission of global cultural heritage institutions and their users. Please note that recordings are not available for the breakout sessions. 

Our four breakout sessions were:

1. Open Culture in an Ideal World: Needs, goals and aspirations of the open culture movement | Led by Camille Francoise
2. Open Culture in our Current World: Problems, hurdles and challenges | Led by Shanna Hollich
3. Bridging the Gap between Current and Ideal: Exploring solutions: exceptions and limitations and safeguarding the public domain | Led by Maarten Zeinstra
4. New horizons: artificial intelligence, copyright and cultural heritage | Led by Emine Ozge Yildirim

The event probed several innovative and inspiring strategies for CC advocates to convey complex policy messages in simple and engaging ways. It also helped define our policy vision for better sharing of cultural heritage, according to the four horizons that shape it: (1) the challenging present; (2) the path forward; (3) the ideal future; and (4) the final frontier. Our learnings will feed into our guide development process, which will involve many opportunities to deepen the conversations and strengthen collaboration among experts in our dynamic global community.

We can’t develop this guide without your help—join us and get involved in developing a stable foundation for policy makers to further access to information, knowledge and culture. Join the CC Copyright Platform Mailing List >>