Creative Commons helps you legally share your knowledge and creativity to build a more equitable, accessible, and innovative world.
What does Tanya Richard from the Canadian Museum of History and the Canadian War Museum think about the importance of open heritage? "Without these connections, these sparks, we wouldn't know how to cater to our public. We wouldn't be asking our artists the important questions. This sometimes messy and boisterous and chaotic work can be challenging, but it's always worth it."
Sign the Open Heritage Statement to join this rewarding work! https://openheritagestatement.org/home#signthestatement
We recently reflected on our work in 2025—the achievements and the road ahead. That reflection reaffirmed our purpose and sharpened our priorities in this age of AI. In 2026, we’ll continue to work in service of our three strategic goals:
🌐 Strengthen the open infrastructure of sharing
🏛 Defend and advocate for a thriving creative commons
🌏 Center community
Read our newest blog post for more info on how we're working toward these goals in 2026: https://creativecommons.org/2026/01/08/building-the-future-in-2026/
In Q4, CC continued our work in international fora that shape cultural rights and copyright, as well as our advocacy for AI policies that serve the public interest.
Read the full policy review:
https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/creative-commons-q4-policy-review-creative-commons-fqvtc
Image: "Library of Congress Thomas Jefferson Building," Carol M Highsmith, 2007, CC0, Flickr.
We’ve built the commons together, and we must protect it together.
There’s still time! You can make a gift to Creative Commons before the new year and help us protect the commons from new threats brought by the advent of mainstream, commercial AI. Make a gift today!
https://www.classy.org/give/313412/#!/donation/checkout?c_src=Mastadon&c_src2=EOY2025
Image: Photo by Jocelyn Miyara/Creative Commons, 2025, CC BY 4.0.
Open science is under threat. Research that was once freely available is being wiped from the internet or locked behind paywalls, hindering scientific advancement and progress for all. Today over a million scientific preprints are accessible and sharable through CC licenses, and we’re working to grow that number. Join us with a gift today.
https://www.classy.org/give/313412/#!/donation/checkout?c_src=Mastadon&c_src2=EOY2025
Image: “Science Center” by slava, CC BY 2.0, Flickr.
CC has big things coming in 2026! Stay up to date with all the news, events, and updates to come by signing up for our newsletter.
"[Open cultural heritage in the public domain] can help shift the mindset from one of custodianship, where heritage is often protected behind walls, to one of stewardship, where it is actively shared, interpreted, and made relevant for today's audiences."
Deborah DeAngelis, the lead of the Creative Commons Italy chapter, shares the opportunities she sees for Italy if heritage were made more openly accessible.
Join Deborah and sign the Open Heritage Statement at openheritagestatement.org!
Advising several organizations on licensing and policy, including the World Meteorological Organization (WMO), ECMWF, EUMETSAT, Australia Bureau of Meteorology, WMO Africa, Intertidal, and others!
The opportunity to expand efforts around open climate data is greater than ever, and we are proud to be part of this growing momentum worldwide. ⛅
Working with the UN Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD) to strengthen openness across their reporting system through clearer licensing practices. This will help researchers around the world access and build upon current climate science.
Advising several organizations on licensing and policy, including the World Meteorological Organization (WMO), ECMWF, EUMETSAT, Australia Bureau of Meteorology, WMO Africa, Intertidal, and others!
Partnering with world’s largest climate data producers during the development of our Recommendations for Better Sharing of Climate Data, a valuable resource for everyone publishing and using open data (a more generalized report for all research data is forthcoming!).
Advising the Group on Earth Observations (GEO) as they make it easy for their 100+ member organizations to follow global data sharing principles with open licensing. While still under development, their GEO Knowledge Hub data platform is expected to be a role model when it comes to usage and display of licenses, attributions, and related metadata.
2025 was a big year for CC's efforts to expand the accessibility and interoperability of climate data globally. This Open Climate Data project, generously funded by the Patrick J. McGovern Foundation, focused on building the tools, policies, and guidance needed to make openness the norm and ensure that knowledge flows freely to those who need it most.
Key impacts from the project include...🧵
This year, Creative Commons became an official UNESCO NGO partner (consultative status) and launched its Open Heritage Statement, two huge steps forward in our work to make culture accessible to everyone and preserve it for future generations.
This momentum shows what’s possible when we work together. But we need you to keep it going. Join the effort with a gift today.
https://www.classy.org/give/313412/#!/donation/checkout?c_src=Mastadon&c_src2=EOY2025
Image: “Museum” by Karen_O’D, CC BY 2.0, Flickr.
Creative Commons is joining @internetarchive to celebrate new works entering the public domain, and registration is now open for two Public Domain Day events on January 21, 2026!
The free virtual event, "The Case of the Disappearing Copyright": https://www.eventbrite.com/e/1977502652667
The evening, in-person celebration, "2026 Public Domain Film Remix Contest & Party": https://www.eventbrite.com/e/1977503818153
The end of the year always marks an opportunity to reflect on all that we've achieved this past year. Read our wrap-up blog post for more on this big year: https://creativecommons.org/2025/12/19/what-we-built-together-in-2025/
Thank you to everyone who has supported us and been an invaluable part of this work. What do you want to see from Creative Commons in 2026?
“Kaleidoscope 2” by Sheila Sund is licensed under CC BY 2.0, remixed by Creative Commons licensed under CC BY 4.0.
New blog post! What have we been working on with CC signals in 2025?
Get involved:
📝 Read the blog post: https://creativecommons.org/2025/12/15/cc-signals-what-weve-been-working-on/
🙋♀️ Express interest in participating in the Mozilla Data Collective pilot project: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSflnSi5d1t99WbDyKoXrTqB0ItNeLs-Hy8S4dXddCKGZ2ESXg/viewform
🎁 Support CC signals with a gift: https://www.classy.org/give/313412/#!/donation/checkout?c_src=website&c_src2=temp-banner
With AI bots flooding their online repositories, it’s getting harder for libraries to keep knowledge open and accessible to everyone. We want to help them have a say in how their collections are used in AI training. Join us in this work with a donation today.
https://www.classy.org/give/313412/#!/donation/checkout?c_src=Mastadon&c_src2=EOY2025
New name. Growing movement. Shared purpose.
The TAROCH Coalition is now the Open Heritage Coalition. This clearer, more accessible name puts the Open Heritage Statement at the center of our global advocacy advancing equitable access to heritage in the public domain. The Statement launched two months ago and we are excited to announce we now have 55 organizations who have signed.
Join us! Learn more and sign the Statement: openheritagestatement.org/statement
We've shared a primer on pay-to-crawl in our latest issue brief, and details on our collaboration with the RSL collective, incorporating elements of CC signals into their new standards. But where does CC stand on pay-to-crawl?
Read our full blog post for all of the details: https://creativecommons.org/2025/12/12/where-cc-stands-on-pay-to-crawl/
Image: "Distorted Sand Mine" by Lone Thomasky & Bits&Bäume, licensed under CC BY 4.0.
How does Global Open Initiative's work preserving and sharing cultural knowledge in Ghana connect to the Open Heritage Statement? Harriet Bayel, the organization's community lead, shares, "What this global call does for us is that it helps us to have a collective effort towards ensuring that there's equitable access to the public domain."
Hear Harriet's full remarks from the OHS launch, and then join the over 50 partners who have already signed the Statement: https://openheritagestatement.org/.