Remix Austin!

Creative Commons recently offered catalyst grants to help spur awareness and use of Creative Commons.

Two grants have been proposed from Austin, one studying the music scene and one promoting the literature scene.

You can support either of the projects in the dicusssion part of the page describing the full project.

I make reference to this video a lot in my presentations.  It is over 40 minutes long, but well worth the watch.  Nina Paley, creator of Sita Sings the Blues, details her realization that her new creative work might never be seen - even for free, because of copyrights lasting from the 20s.

Free Screening of Sita Sings the Blues (a film licensed under Creative Commons)
By releasing this movie under CC-BY-SA, this film is available for remixing by other filmmakers and showing for free (Terms and Restrictions).

June 19th 7pm, at ChannelAustin 1143 Northwestern Avenue, Austin, TX 78702

Sita is a Hindu goddess, the leading lady of India’s epic the Ramayana and a dutiful wife who follows her husband Rama on a 14 year exile to a forest, only to be kidnapped by an evil king from Sri Lanka. Despite remaining faithful to her husband, Sita is put through many tests. Nina (the filmmaker Nina Paley herself) is an artist who finds parallels in Sita’s life when her husband – in India on a work project - decides to break up their marriage and dump her via email. Three hilarious Indonesian shadow puppets with Indian accents – linking the popularity of the Ramayana from India all the way to the Far East - narrate both the ancient tragedy and modern comedy in this beautifully animated interpretation of the epic.