Creative Commons

On March 2, CC and Internet Archive Europe, together with the support of Open Nederland, hosted an event entitled “Ensuring equitable access to heritage in the digital environment: A leading role for the Netherlands on the global stage.” With open heritage gaining momentum as a way to help address global challenges, the event was an opportunity to elevate Dutch good practices to the international level. In our newest blog post, we offer a recap of the dynamic discussions from the event and share the importance and impact for CC. https://buff.ly/hswr6YE

CC is heading to SXSW! If you'll be there as well, we'd love to see you at these events: AI & Creative Capital: Consent, Governance, and the Future of the Open Web March 13 | 2:00-6:00 CT Creative Commons, Pillsbury Winthrop Shaw Pittman LLP, and EFF-Austin are delighted to present a fascinating exploration of who gets to share and benefit in the age of AI; how governance choices, incentives and norms are shaping the future of the open web; and how artists, writers and communities are shaping models that keep culture, creativity and human voices central as AI-driven markets evolve. Register: https://buff.ly/feHE4d1 The Knowledge Paradox: When Does Sharing Become Theft? March 14 | 2:30-3:30 CT For decades, the open movement championed sharing as the path to knowledge equity. But AI weaponizes that openness, what was built to democratize knowledge now trains models that concentrate power and profit. Open data scraping. Closed model development. Free content fueling extraction. As Creative Commons marks our 25th anniversary, we confront a difficult question: how do we keep knowledge open without enabling its exploitation? The Siegel Family Endowment presents this panel featuring Lawrence Lessig, Anna Tumadóttir, and Lisa Watts. Register: https://lnkd.in/gmxFApXG

The infrastructure phase of AI governance has begun. Recently, CC attended the AI Impact Summit in Delhi, and what became clear is that AI governance is shifting. The conversation is moving beyond high-level principles and into harder, more structural questions about infrastructure, stewardship, and power. At the Summit, openness was not framed as a philosophical preference but as a structural necessity and a baseline condition for equity, competition, collaboration, and democratic accountability. Read our reflection on the biggest takeaways from Delhi and what we believe is CC's critical role in filling a global implementation gap.

Did you know that less than 1% of the world’s institutions share heritage in open access? With many elements of documentary heritage remaining behind paywalls and digital locks, people are denied a meaningful connection with their heritage. In this article in the International Journal of Documentary Heritage, our Open Culture team provides an overview of the main barriers to equitable access to public domain heritage in the digital environment, makes the case for openness as a key principle in the preservation and dissemination of documentary heritage, and shares examples of positive reuse enabled by open heritage.

Be a part of our commemorative 25th Anniversary CC zine! We're looking for personal, political, playful, critical, messy, poetic, or practical works that explore the theme "Remix is Resistance." Photos, poems, comics, collage, QR codes that link to music...we want it all! Submissions are open until the end of the month: https://buff.ly/WD9zrID

Upcoming Events in March! AI & Creative Capital: Consent, Governance and the Future of the Open Web | March 3 | 16:00 EST https://buff.ly/fwoJlIC Open Education Week Live: Open Conversation on Online Communities | March 5 | 11:00 EST https://buff.ly/pjFFSck CC Community Office Hours | March 20 | 12:00 EST https://buff.ly/znHGYd3 CC Legal Office Hours | March 30 | 11:00 EST https://buff.ly/5SLwEoZ

Over the past year, we've been engaged in a series of conversations with a small group of researchers specializing in IP, AI policy, and data governance about what CC licensing means—and does—in African contexts today. At stake in these conversations are not only questions about CC licenses but deeper issues of data sovereignty, equity, governance, and power in global knowledge systems. Our newest blog post discusses the themes that have emerged from those conversations and asks a broader question: how must "open" evolve to remain just, relevant, and community centered? https://buff.ly/tw9a76c Thank you to Vukosi Marivate, Chijioke Okorie, PhD, and Dr. Melissa Omino (LLD), as well as members of the CC board of directors for convening these dialogues and sharing their perspectives with us at Creative Commons. Images: Woman's ceremonial overskirt by a Kuba artist, ca. 1900, CC0, The Met; Textile fragments, 3rd–4th century, CC0, The Met.

This week, CC, represented by Brigitte Vézina, Dee Harris, and Beverley Francis, are at UNESCO in Paris attending a meeting of the 2005 Convention on the Protection and Promotion of the Diversity of Cultural Expressions. We're here to raise awareness about the Open Heritage Statement, a global call to action to ensure equitable access to heritage in the digital environment. The result of global collective action by the Open Heritage Coalition, the Statement calls on stakeholders to enter a policy dialogue to remove unfair, unnecessary barriers to access to public domain heritage. #openheritagestatement #openheritagecoalition Learn more and add your voice: openheritagestatement.org

Over the past year, Creative Commons communities around the world have continued to show what’s possible when people come together around shared values of openness, collaboration, and care. In 2025, we were focused on getting feedback and streamlining how we did things, which prepped us perfectly for the coming year. In 2026, we want to deepen our community engagement, strengthening connections and creating more meaningful ways for everyone to engage. Read our new blog post for a peek at some of our community plans: https://buff.ly/MJCpbBY "The Stars Are Us" by Alina Marinescu for Fine Acts is licensed with CC BY NC SA, remixed by Creative Commons, CC BY NC SA.