“Better Sharing Collection at CC’s 20th Anniversary Celebration” by Creative Commons is licensed under CC BY 4.0

To celebrate the 20th anniversary of Creative Commons and our licenses, we partnered with Fine Acts to commission the “Better Sharing” collection. We are excited to share the collection with the world, which was unveiled last week at CC’s 20th Anniversary Celebration. The artworks are available on TheGreats.co to be enjoyed, used and adapted, and then shared again, by anyone, forever.

In developing this collection of artworks, we posed this question to 12 prominent global open advocates:

What does better sharing for a brighter future look like to you? 

Fine Acts selected 12 well-known international artists who have embraced openness to create a series of visual pieces under an open license, which are inspired by the theme, as well as the responses from the advocates. View the full collection >>

“#BetterSharing Illustrations” assembled by Creative Commons from the works of 12 illustrators is licensed via CC BY-NC 4.0.

Our Theme: Better Sharing 

The unifying idea behind this collection is “Better Sharing,” which comes from Creative Commons’ strategic goal to accelerate Better Sharing — a cooperative effort that delivers open access to technology, education, science, culture and resources, and advances knowledge to solve problems and promote the public good. Beyond just sharing, better sharing includes:

• Sharing that is inclusive, just and equitable — where everyone has wide opportunity to access content, contribute their own creativity, and receive recognition and rewards for their contributions.
• Sharing that is reciprocal — where we rebalance the skewed world we live in now, in which a few produce and profit from works that the many consume.
• Sharing that is sustainable — where open participation in the public commons is the default, rather than the exception. 

The Better Sharing collection and our advocate & artist pairings

“Open Palms, Not Clutching Fists” by Burcu Köleli for Creative Commons & Fine Acts is licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0

Inspired by a quote from Maria Popova Writer, The Marginalian (formerly Brain Pickings)

“Never forget that an open palm is a greater platform of power than a clutching fist.” 

“Sharing Brightens The Future” by Teo Georgiev for Creative Commons & Fine Acts is licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0

Inspired by a quote from Biyanto Rebin, Chair (2016–2021), Wikimedia Indonesia

“Sedikit demi sedikit, lama-lama menjadi bukit (meaning: many a mickle makes a muckle).

An Indonesian proverb with the meaning of collaboration spirit, when we do a continuous effort little by little, it will eventually become bigger in the future. This is what happens when we share our resources, our works to the public, they will have a greater impact, since sharing can empower other people, sometimes the ones who are left behind, the underprivileged.”

“Better Sharing, Brighter Future” by David Espinosa for Creative Commons & Fine Acts is licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0

Inspired by a quote from Catherine Stihler, Creative Commons CEO

 “Better Sharing Brighter Future is happy and joyous open sharing where creativity, knowledge and innovation can prosper.”

“The More We Share, The More We Have” by Pietro Soldi for Creative Commons & Fine Acts is licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0

Inspired by a quote from Cory Doctorow, Science Fiction Author, Journalist and Tech Activist

“In my utopia, we figure out how to create and keep separate rules that regulate the relationships between creators and their industry

(e.g. writers and publishers, musicians and labels, etc); and rules that regulate the relationships between creators and their *audiences*. The things an audience does with a work — and the way that they relate to its creator — shouldn’t be a free-for-all; nor should the way that creators relate to those audiences. But whatever those rules should be, they will necessarily be very different from the way that the creative industries regulate interactions among their constituent actors.”

“The Future Is Open” by Preeti Singh for Creative Commons & Fine Acts is licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0

Inspired by a quote from Ebenezar Wikina, Founder, Policy Shapers, and Advocacy Coordinator, Foundation for Partnerships Initiatives in the Niger Delta (PIND Foundation)

“Better Sharing, Brighter Future means that as we continue to find better ways to share ideas, products and solutions on the internet, we’d directly be working towards a brighter future for ourselves and generations to come.”

“Share Freely, Openly, Like We Share Air” by Hust Wilson for Creative Commons & Fine Acts is licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0

Inspired by a quote from David Moinina Sengeh, Education Minister and Chief Innovation Officer of Sierra Leone; TED Senior Fellow

“To share anything freely and openly, much like we share air, is to be alive.”

“Better Sharing For Brighter Future” by Janice Chang for Creative Commons & Fine Acts is licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0

Inspired by a quote from Tyler Green, Author, Historian, Art Critic and Producer/Host, The Modern Art Notes Podcast

“It means understanding that sharing and open content is a means, not an end.

For me, it means understanding that sharing and open content is a means, not an end, that open content and open access policies aren’t an end in and of themselves. Although within the context of an individual project, it’s an excellent end. But what we get, we the community of scholars, we the broader community of people, what we get is an opportunity to understand how this material fits within the worlds around us, allowing new and different ideas to more fully inform us. My favorite example is always going to be the more art and visual material, whether it’s photographs or engravings in 19th century magazines. The more we understand how images have worked across histories, the more we will understand how impactful artists and visual makers, engravers, whomever have been. And so I think that open access is probably the primary and most important means through which we will understand how artists have impacted the world.”

“Sharing Is Growing” by Olga Mrozek for Creative Commons & Fine Acts is licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0

Inspired by a quote from Medhavi Gandhi, Founder of The Heritage Lab

“To me, with better (open) sharing, comes the promise of equality.

 In every culture around the world, there exist traditions that promote generosity/sharing — and so, it is only natural that the value of sharing becomes part of our ‘digital culture’ as well. To me, better sharing means enhanced relationships, collaborations between people, and an opportunity to build a world free of barriers/boundaries. South Asian history is revealing of what happened in a world where knowledge was ‘owned’ by a select few; with better sharing, there comes a possibility for building equal access to knowledge and participating in conversations that help heal a fractured world. In the end, positive sharing & contributing to others’ knowledge/experiences helps make us better people, not to mention the multifold benefits that come when you start a sharing circle.”

“Open Is Beautiful” by Tetiana Korniichuk for Creative Commons & Fine Acts is licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0

Inspired by a quote from Cecília Oliveira, Executive Director, Fogo Cruzado

“The powerful hide important data to prevent us from demanding change. This is true with armed violence in Brazil, but is also true where you live on issues that you care about. Find a way to use open data to make changes in your society.

To me, Better Sharing Brighter Future means… a city where people aren’t afraid of being shot. I created Fogo Cruzado because the authorities were not sharing important data, and they did it to prevent accountability. And, unfortunately, there were no institutions out there who were ready to fill in the gap. So I decided to do it myself. We had offers to make money off of selling our data, and we had others who were taking our data and using it poorly, but we knew that the ONLY way to make this situation better was to make our work open and free and easy to access for everyone. Our focus is armed violence, but really our mission is about fighting secrecy.”

“Better Sharing, Better Future” by Maria Picassó i Piquer, Spain for Creative Commons & Fine Acts is licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0

Inspired by a quote from Kyle Smith, CC Canada member & member of LexDAO and Fellow in Gitcoin’s KERNEL incubator

“Better Sharing, Brighter Future means continuing Jobs’s “bicycle of the mind” dream with modern “IoT” general purpose machines like Raspberry Pi…

so we can unleash the latent power of humanity and innovate ourselves out of this fossil-fuel-driven climate crisis.”

“Shared Knowledge, Shared Future” by Luisa Brando, Colombia for Creative Commons & Fine Acts is licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0

Inspired by a quote from Molly Van Houweling, Chair, Board of Directors, Creative Commons

“Better sharing for a brighter future means that the world is wrapped in a living connective tissue of shared knowledge, culture, and insights that spread joy and alleviate suffering.”

“Blessed Is The Hand That Gives” by Sakina Saïdi for Creative Commons & Fine Acts is licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0

Inspired by a quote from Liz Lenjo, Entertainment & IP Lawyer and Founder and Managing Consultant, MYIP Legal Studio

“Blessed is the hand that gives.

The CC license gives opportunities to creators to share their work with the world and to show off their prowess, their skills, and to announce to the world that they are here and that they are present. My tip for a brighter future for African artists and creators; let’s be generous with our creations. Let us aim to share one or two works through a CC license. The world has barely experienced what Africa has to offer. Let us share it, and it will without a doubt open up opportunities for very lucrative collaborations. Let us use the CC license also to better our societies, let the works created have a social conscience and a social cause. We can use the CC licenses to give back to our communities. These efforts seldom go unnoticed or unappreciated.”

Better Sharing is essential for creating a more just, equitable, and thriving world! ? 

As we look toward the next 20 years of Creative Commons, we are committed to building a world where everyone, everywhere, has access to free and open knowledge. Will you join us? Donate to Creative Commons today!