On Wednesday 25 May 2022, Balkans Beyond Borders and GLAM Hack welcomed a small but enthusiastic group of cultural managers, GLAM professionals and creatives to the 2-session workshop, which was organised in the context of the open access policy of ECHO II, and was facilitated by Revekka Kefalea, our open access advocate and recent graduate of the Creative Commons Certificate for GLAM (Galleries, Libraries, Archives, Museums).

During the first session of the workshop: “Copyright and Creative Commons Licenses: A Short History”, Revekka presented the basics of copyright law, the public domain and Creative Commons licenses; and sketched the socio-political and economical changes, the technological innovations in reproduction media, and the publishers’ and creators’ lobbying efforts that -from the 18th century onwards- led to the establishment of modern copyright laws, to the gradual extensions of the copyright protection terms, and to the foundation of the Creative Commons organization and the publication of the CC license suite.

During the second session: “Open Business Models for Artists and Cultural Organizations”, Revekka presented a few examples of cultural and creative organizations that have adopted open access policies, or developed projects and initiatives based on open resources, highlighting the benefits of open business models especially for young or underrepresented artists, and small organizations operating with low budgets. Then, she encouraged participants to explore the open business models presented in the publications Made with Creative Commons and The Power of Open and map them, or get inspired by them and design their own open business models with the use of the CC Business Model Canvas.

Both sessions sparked a lot of questions around the complexities of copyrights, as well as fruitful discussions regarding the values of the open movement, and the benefits of using Creative Commons licenses when publishing and sharing works online. For some of the participants the information shared during the workshop was new and hence, quite puzzling. But they all found it extremely interesting and relevant to their work, and expressed their interest and willingness to explore and learn more about the digital commons.

Special thanks

Special thanks to Bettina Wenzel (Director of the Department of Information of Goethe-Institut Athen & Goethe Institutes in South East Europe) and to Nikoletta Stathopoulou (Director of the Department of Information and the Library of Goethe-Institut Athen) for their warm hospitality and support! It was a pleasure to offer this workshop at Goethe-Institut Athen, one of the educational and cultural spaces in Greece that actively promotes the Commons, and contributes to the open movement.