Learning by Design: Experimenting with Copyright Education for Creators
In 2018, while serving as program director at Artscape Launchpad, I had the opportunity to collaborate with Canadian Heritage on a project aimed at addressing a critical gap in the creative industries: copyright literacy. Despite being surrounded by resources, creators in Canada often find themselves lost when it comes to understanding how intellectual property operates, let alone how to use it as a tool for protection or monetization. This gap isn’t just technical; it runs deeper, shaping confidence and the ability to navigate increasingly complex systems.
The experiment took place at Artscape Daniels Launchpad, a space designed to foster creative entrepreneurship. Working with 18 creators split into two cohorts, we tested different approaches to teaching copyright. Both groups received support from the same legal expert, yet their experiences diverged sharply based on how the material was contextualized.
One group engaged with copyright as a standalone subject—a workshop tethered to specific, immediate needs. The other encountered the material embedded in a broader journey, one that began with relational learning and culminated in the midst of an Indigenous media festival, where questions of ownership and co-creation are lived realities.
The differences were striking. Those in the first cohort absorbed the technical knowledge but struggled to see how it could adapt to future challenges. Many expressed frustration with the legal system itself, seeing it as rigid and alienating. The second cohort, however, approached copyright with a different energy—more critical, yes, but also more curious. By encountering the topic alongside the festival’s layered stories of contested ownership, they began to see copyright not as a distant structure but as something alive, full of contradictions and possibilities.
The experiment revealed something essential: that knowledge alone doesn’t build capacity. Intimacy with the subject matter—and with the systems shaping it—matters. A reflective space, paired with human connections, creates opportunities for creators to see beyond the immediate and into the emergent.
At its core, this project wasn’t just about teaching copyright. It was about asking how creators learn best when the systems around them are vast and unwieldy. The answers weren’t definitive but hinted at a principle that keeps recurring in my work: education, especially in complex fields, is more art than formula.