Brigitte Vézina
Brigitte is passionate about all things spanning culture, arts, handicraft, traditions, fashion and, of course, copyright law and policy. She gets a kick out of tackling the fuzzy legal and policy issues that stand in the way of access, use, re-use and remix of culture, information and knowledge.
Before joining CC, she worked for a decade as a legal officer at WIPO and then ran her own consultancy, advising Europeana, SPARC Europe and others on copyright matters.
Currently located in the Netherlands where she lives with her husband and two kids, Brigitte grew up living in eight different countries across North America, Africa and Europe but Montréal is where she proudly comes from.
Brigitte is a fellow at the Canadian think tank Centre for International Governance Innovation. She holds a bachelor’s degree in law from the Université de Montréal and a master’s in law from Georgetown University. She has been a member of the Bar of Quebec since 2003.
Photo credit: Victoria Heath CC BY 4.0
Brigitte's News
“Opening up cultural artifacts from African organizations might change how we’re represented in online spaces” says Kirsty von Gogh from Johannesburg. She also shares how increasing production of culturally, linguistically, and contextually aware and relevant content can ensure a more representative digital space for Africans, and how open licensing increases accessibility to this content. … Read More “Kirsty von Gogh — Open Culture VOICES, Season 2 Episode 17”
“Open Access… is an amplification of the work that these institutions do” Ivan says in this episode. He also shares what unique challenges are faced by cultural heritage institutions in Mexico which has one of the longest copyright terms in the world: 100 years plus the lifetime of the creator or author Open Culture … Read More “Ivan Martinez — Open Culture VOICES, Season 2 Episode 8”
As part of our Open Culture Program, we at Creative Commons (CC) are exploring avenues to build momentum towards a UNESCO Recommendation on Open Culture. On 11 May, 2023, we hosted our first in-person Open Culture event, in Lisbon, Portugal. In this blog post, we look back at the day’s highlights and map out next … Read More “A look at CC’s Open Culture Roundtable in Lisbon”
“If you’re considering opening up, start small” says Michal Čudrnák, the Head of Digital Collections at the Slovak National Gallery. When you open up just a small part first you will see what unfolds and can learn in the process what works for your community and what they interested in and how your community … Read More “Michal Čudrnák — Open Culture VOICES, Season 2 Episode 15”
Laksmi says that “open access…makes it possible to collaborate and reconstruct cultural heritage.” In this episode we learn about cultural heritage in Indonesia and how open access has made it possible for organisations to work together and build out data sets and information about historical collections across the country. Open Culture VOICES is a series … Read More “Laksmi Sugiri — Open Culture VOICES, Season 2 Episode 14”
Shanna shares how “keeping content locked up and isolated keeps us separate from one another” so opening up collections brings people together and bridges our shared humanity, across cultures and continents. In this episode we learn about how publicly funded institutions should provide online access to the public which is funding it and held accountable … Read More “Shanna Hollich — Open Culture VOICES, Season 2 Episode 13”
As part of the Open Culture Platform’s work this year, we accepted proposals and invited the community to vote on community funded activities. Here are the six proposals that have been funded. We look forward to sharing more about the projects when they are complete. Archiving History of Ghana: Case Study of Forts and Castles … Read More “Open Culture Platform Activity Fund Winners 2023”
“Open culture creates conditions for us to know ourselves, but above all to eachother.” Jessemusse shares this insight with us and talks about what open culture and open access in GLAM institutions has done for his writing work and how it has shaped his views about language representation. Open Culture has provided a way to … Read More “Jessemusse Cacinda — Open Culture VOICES, Season 2 Episode 12”
In this episode Killian Downing tells us how “[Open Culture] is about inclusivity and inspiring people and involving them more deeply…” in stories through digital cultural heritage. He is passionate about creating community and engagement through digital cultural heritage initiatives. Open Culture VOICES is a series of short videos that highlight the benefits and barriers … Read More “Killian Downing — Open Culture VOICES, Season 2 Episode 11”
Sandra notes that “the collections being present online, helps to reduce theft of works of art.” When the information about collection is available to the public then the public will also help to recover works that are sold on marketplaces illegally. Sandra shares insights about working with Open GLAM in Brazil, in museums, and other … Read More “Sandra Soster — Open Culture VOICES, Season 2 Episode 10”
