Joy Fairclough is passionate about IP - Hosts Intellectual Property workshop today
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To say that Joy Fairclough wears many hats is an understatement. Her bio lists her as a musician, singer-songwriter, composer, recording artiste, music educator and performance health science trainer in the creative arts. And the formidable Fairclough, who was the vocal trainer for dancehall artistes such as Macka Diamond, Mr Vegas, Agent Sasco, and Danielle ‘DI’ Isaacs, also assisted the popular ‘Digicel Rising Stars’ competition as a workshop trainer in vocal technique, working with artistes such as Camille Davis, One Third, Romain Virgo and many others.
Fairclough is also passionate about intellectual property, and it gives her joy to pass on her knowledge to all creatives who are willing to take a listen.
One such workshop takes place this afternoon at the Mamby Park Baptist Church hall, Constant Spring Road, St Andrew, under the heading ‘The trade and commerce of IP rights through administration, publishing and distribution’. Persons have the choice of also joining via Zoom.
“This workshop is targeting all Jamaicans and persons interested in Intellectual Property, or who are curious to know what is Intellectual Property. All creative industry and manufacturing industry persons are interested in this topic,” Fairclough told The Gleaner.
She outlined that the topics being covered include IP in Heritage Assets, IP in Personal Ideas and IP use in Distribution and Sales (Commerce). With her own Joy Music as one of the sponsors of the workshop, also on board are Walk Good Heritage and the Louise Bennett Coverley Estate.
Clayton Coverley of the Louise Bennett Coverley Estate, the legal entity which manages the intellectual property and literary works of the late Dr Louise ‘Miss Lou’ Bennett-Coverley, cultural icon and folklorist, hailed Fairclough as “a determined advocate for the protection of rights across all categories”.
“[She] has been the designated point of contact for all inquiries surrounding the estate to date. This seminar aims to address past misuse of intellectual property related to the estate, educate the public on its proper handling, and, significantly, assist individuals in protecting their own creative works,” Coverley told The Gleaner.
“We believe this initiative is crucial for fostering a greater understanding of intellectual property rights within the community,” he added.
With her decades of experience in the music business, Fairclough, whose recording career started as a pre-teen when she was one of one thousand voices in a children's choir, is relentless in her pursuit to educate all creatives about the importance of intellectual property. She admitted, however, that there are challenges and shared some.
“Finding a venue was the biggest challenge, as venue owners are also mostly unaware of their heritage asset in Jamaica,” she outlined.
As it relates to Jamaica, "heritage assets" generally refer to Traditional Knowledge (TK) and Traditional Cultural Expressions (TCEs), which represent the creative intellectual activity and cultural identity of indigenous and local communities. TCEs are described as “tangible and intangible expressions such as music, art, handicrafts, costumes, jewellery, rituals, and folklore”.
Fairclough added that “equally challenging [is the fact that] most persons in Jamaica saw no value to Intellectual Property rights as ideas and the skills to develop the ideas should all be used free[ly] and shared freely”.
Through this workshop, Fairclough said that persons will “learn what to do with an idea and a creation ownership right called intellectual property; and learn how to earn using ideas and creations from tangible and intangible products and services”.
Fairclough’s most recent workshop, ‘Beats of Reggae’, was hosted last month.