ONLINE COPYRIGHT CONFERENCE 2024 Thursday 23 May
IN DEPTH
Does copyright equally protect black creators?
These days copyright law is always in need of an update. But some of its flaws and failures are much older and more embedded than those associated with technology changes. Pawlet Brookes, keynote for CILIP Copyright Conference 2024 (taking place online on 23 May – register at
www.cilip.org.uk/CopyrightConf24) explores historical and contemporary problems that intellectual property law and its interpretation have caused for black artists and creators.
PAWLET Brookes MBE is the Founder, CEO and Artistic Director of Serendipity Institute for Black Arts and Heritage, which she start- ed in 2010. Her work has included setting up heritage initiatives: Lost Legends: 30 Years of Black History Month in Leicester (2016- 2017) and Archiving the Past: Reflecting the Future (2018-2020). Serendipity has recently been awarded one of the largest National Lottery Heritage Fund grants for a black arts and heritage organisation, £812,000 for its Unearthed: Forgotten Histories. In this Q&A she discusses the impact of intellectual prop- erty law on the black cultural landscape.
Information Professional – Can we talk about your own experience, career, training and motivation in the arts and how this led to set- ting up Serendipity?
Pawlet Brookes (PB) – I have worked in a variety of different roles throughout my career from Mar- keting Manager at the Nia Centre (Manchester) in the 1990s, the UK’s first black arts centre and later as Artistic Director of Peepul Centre (Leicester), Chief Executive of Rich Mix (London) and as an Arts Council assessor.
Serendipity Institute for Black Arts and Heritage was founded in 2010, with our flagship dance festival Let’s Dance International Frontiers (LDIF) taking place in 2011 and we also began coordinating Black History Month for Leicester. My ambition has always been to showcase high-quality work that showcases black artists and black-led creative practice for every- one to engage with. In 2016, Serendipity was awarded a grant from the National Lottery Heritage Fund for Lost Legends – 30 Years of Black History Month in Leicester and our work has gone from strength
March 2024
to strength covering arts and heritage. One of our significant projects coming up in 2024 is 100 Black Women Who Have Made A Mark, which will see the creation by five visual artists of 100 portraits of black women, connected to Britain and Ireland, coming together in one exhibition.
When did you become aware of intellectual property and copyright problems during your career? PB – Throughout my career I have been very aware of intellectual property issues, directly and indirectly, in the UK and internationally. Black artists have historically been victims of discriminatory IP laws, IP theft or lacked satisfactory legal counsel. For example, black British composer Samuel Col- eridge-Taylor’s famous work Hiawatha’s Wedding Feast was sold outright to Novello and Co for
INFORMATION PROFESSIONAL 27
Rob Mackinlay(
rob.mackinlay@
cilip.org.uk) is a journalist at Information Professional
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