Questioncopyright.org Newsletter – Spring 2011
Questioncopyright.org Newsletter – Spring 2011
Contents
- Introduction
- Recent Developments
- QCO Artist In Residence Nina Paley
- New In the QCO Store!
- How to Support QCO
- Further Information
Introduction
Dear QuestionCopyright.org Supporter,
Thanks for taking the time to read our new newsletter. In this edition, we are going to update you on our ongoing and forthcoming projects and also let you know how you can continue to support the work of free culture artists and innovators, and help reframe public discussion of copyright.
We hope you like what you see and are encouraged to be an even greater part of building a world where artists know that their audiences are their best supporters and their best distributors — and where the phrase “free culture” becomes increasingly redundant.
Recent Developments
QuestionCopyright.org The Recipient of $10,000 Kahle/Austin Foundation Grant
In the early days of 2011, Questioncopyright.org was pleasantly surprised with the news that the Kahle/Austin Foundation had deemed our organization worthy of a generous $10,000 grant. These funds are being used as a seed money towards building further fundraising capabilities. In February 2011, we welcomed Sumana Harihareswara as Fundraising Coordinator, and in April 2011, as Sumana prepared to depart our employ, Camille E. Acey joined us to handle fundraising and overall organizational development. In light of the successes of the past year, we feel that capacity building efforts are the best use of this grant, and this investment is already beginning to bear fruit.
Minute Memes to Screen at Corti a Ponte Film Festival – May 20 – 21, 2011
Our two Minute Memes were recently selected to be part of the Corti a Ponte Film Festival in Ponte San Nicolò, Italy. All Creative Work Is Derivative will screen on the evening of May 20 2011 and Copying Is Not Theft will screen on the afternoon of May 21, 2011. More details about the film festival can be found here. Minute Memes are produced with supporting funds provided by The Andy Warhol Foundation.
Brazilian Remix of Copying Is Not Theft Minute Meme
In April 2011, we received word that Fernando Chiocca of www.mises.org.br had re-recorded our Minute Meme Copying Is Not Theft — with the vocal track sung (and sung well) in Brazilian Portuguese! Check it out here.
The Creator-Endorsed Mark
Questioncopyright.org developed the Creator-Endorsed Mark in 2009 in order to help distributors proudly display that they have approval from the creator for the manner in which they are distributing the creator’s work. As more and more creators freely circulate their works on the Internet, the mark also provides a reliable way for non-exclusive publishers to signal to their customer when some percentage of their sales is going towards supporting the artist.
At the moment, we are working with our legal counsel Karen Sandler and our legal intern Vlad Vidaeff to register the Creator-Endorsed Mark as an officially recognized trademark for use in the publication and distribution of creative works. We will let you know when the trademark is finally in the national register. In the meantime, you can learn more about the CE Mark here.
The Creator-Endorsed Mark Used For Publication of La Commedia Inglese: English Plays of the Commedia dell’Arte
In August 2010,author Talia Felix published her book La Commedia Inglese: English Plays of the Commedia dell’Arte and included the Creator-Endorsed Mark. The book, which was created using Amazon.com’s CreateSpace system, is a survey of the body of early English language theater that was heavily influenced by Italian commedia dell’arte.
QCO Booth At The 2011 NYC Anarchist Book Fair
On April 9, 2011, we set up a table at the 2011 NYC Anarchist Book Fair. The table was very well-attended, and QCO President Karl Fogel also took part in a panel with authors and independent publishers. Through our participation in this event, we were able to spread the word about reframing the debate around copyright to a sympathetic and interested audience.
Copying Is Not Theft on Denver Comcast
In 2011, Denver Open Media began screening the “Copying Is Not Theft” Minute Meme as a PSA on Denver Comcast. More details here.
QCO Developing Artist Workshops
Educating and advising artists on the how and why of freedom-based distribution is a big part of the work we do at QCO. In order to do this work more effectively, we are currently in the process of developing a series of artist workshops that will teach artists how to freely distribute their creative works. While the workshops will probably start as live events here in NYC, our goal is to produce a series of free workshop videos that can be freely distributed, subtitled, dubbed, remixed to spread knowledge and practical skills on free distribution to artists far and wide. We will keep you posted as the project progresses.
QCO Artist-in-Residence Nina Paley
Press
Over the past few months, QCO’s artist-in-residence, the acclaimed cartoonist and filmmaker Nina Paley, was written up or mentioned in the following outlets:
Appearances
Nina has also given talks or attended Sita screenings at the following venues/events:
- April 8, 2011 – Grinell College – Grinnell, Iowa as part of the Grinnell College Animation Film Festival (GCAFF)
- April 4, 2011 – Boston University – Boston, MA Screening of Sita Sings The Blues followed by discussion with the filmmaker (presented by the BU Program for Scripture & The Arts)
- March 25, 2011 – Agora I/O Webinar
- March 4, 2011 – Rubin Museum of Art, NYC- “Spirals: Fluid Dynamics in Tibetan Art” as part of the Artists on Art series
- January 19, 2011 – 2600’s Off The Hook Hacker Radio Show – Listen here
Purchasables
Misinformation Wants To Be Free: Over 200 Mimi & Eunice Comics by Nina Paley was released in October 2010 and is available in the QCO store, where you will find many other great items by Nina including Sita Sings The Blues merch.
You can also still give to the Sita Distribution project. We are almost 75% of the way to being fully-funded. Click here to learn more and give what you can.
New In The QCO Store
We now have poster-sized Questioncopyright.org prints. Click the images below for a larger view at the store.
How To Support QuestionCopyright.org
1) Donate.
2) Join our mailing list to receive our quarterly newsletter.
3) Volunteer your time or services – we especially need help in the areas of graphic design, web design, legal assistance, editing, and grantwriting. Drop us a line!
3) Share our fun and informative videos and websites with others:
Further Information
- Get occasional updates from QCO by subscribing to our RSS feed.
- You can also keep up with QCO musings and goings on by following us on Identi.ca or Twitter at @qco or joining the Questioncopyright.org group on Facebook.
- For other questions or comments, we can be reached via our contact page – http://questioncopyright.org/contact
Questioncopyright.org is a 501(c)3 non-profit organization.