About the Commons Framework

For the Common Good.

Safeguarding cultural contribution through provenance.

What the Commons Framework Is

The Commons Framework is a commons-based system stewarded by the Creative Women’s Association (CWA) to support the recognition, continuity, and attribution of cultural contribution in the public interest.

It exists to care for shared cultural value — value created collectively through time, skill, care, and cultural work — so that it can be recognised, carried, and sustained across communities, industries, and generations.

The Commons Framework is non-statutory, non-coercive, and voluntary.
It does not regulate culture or confer permission to practise.
It stewards the conditions that allow cultural work to be recognised and safeguarded over time.

What the Framework Does

Through a safeguarding-adjacent system, the Commons Framework:

• develops shared standards for recognising cultural contribution across sectors
• supports provenance mechanisms that clarify origin, integrity, and attribution
• enables voluntary recognition of eligible cultural contributions through the Commons Seal
• safeguards shared cultural value so it is not lost, misattributed, or extracted without acknowledgement

This framework operates where cultural contribution is essential but has historically lacked consistent systems for recognition, protection, and continuity.

The Commons Seal

The Commons Seal is a voluntary mark of recognition used within the Commons Framework.

It signals that a defined cultural contribution has been reviewed, recognised, and documented through a shared system of provenance — for the common good.

The Seal confirms:

• Origin — where a contribution comes from
• Standards — how it aligns with shared criteria
• Custodianship — how its integrity is maintained over time

The Commons Seal may be applied to both tangible and intangible cultural contributions, including products, practices, services, and time-based or relational work.

Use of the Seal is optional and applied to contributions, not as a licence to practise.

Who the Framework Serves

The Commons Framework is not limited to any one group, sector, or discipline.

Cultural contribution occurs wherever shared value is created — across health, care, education, manufacturing, cultural production, and community life.

The framework exists to ensure that such contributions can be:

• recognised
• attributable
• safeguarded
• trusted

without reducing cultural work to regulation or control.

How Recognition Works

Recognition occurs through a voluntary, standards-based process:

• Defined cultural contributions are reviewed against shared criteria stewarded by CWA.
• Eligible contributions may be recognised and issued the Commons Seal.
• Recognition applies to the specific contribution, not automatically to individuals or organisations.

Not all recognised practitioners or organisations will apply the Seal to every output.
The Seal is reserved for contributions that meet the defined criteria.

Founding Stewardship

The Creative Women’s Association (CWA) is the founding steward of the Commons Framework.

CWA holds guardianship of:

• the Commons Seal
• shared standards and recognition processes
• the integrity and continuity of the Commons system

CWA also delivers education, learning pathways, and workforce development programs — including the Creative Excellence Program — that support practitioners and organisations to meet shared standards.

All recognition within the Commons Framework is non-statutory and does not constitute licensing, regulation, or enforcement.

Why This Matters

Cultural contribution sustains communities, economies, and collective wellbeing.

Yet much of this work has remained inconsistently recognised or structurally invisible.

The Commons Framework exists to address that gap — by providing shared language, voluntary pathways for recognition, and safeguarding mechanisms that allow cultural value to endure over time, in the public interest and for the common good.

The Commons Framework in Practice

Who Can Participate?

Participation within the Commons Framework is voluntary.

While current CWA programs prioritise women — reflecting clear evidence about where unrecognised cultural labour is most concentrated — the framework itself is designed to serve the common good and expand over time.

Data consistently shows that women undertake the majority of cultural, creative, caring, and community-based labour — much of it unpaid, underpaid, or unrecognised — and experience the greatest economic disadvantage as a result.
This includes findings reflected in workforce participation, unpaid labour, and economic equity data.

This pathway currently serves women by design, in the public interest.
It does not preclude future expansion.

As the Culture & Provenance sector becomes established, and as standards and systems mature, the Commons framework is intended to broaden — with a long-term goal of making equivalent pathways available to all practitioners for the benefit of society as a whole.

Practitioners

Women who complete CWA’s Creative Excellence Program are recognised as Certified Creative Practitioners — a non-statutory recognition that signals:

• accountable and original practice
• professional integrity
• alignment with shared standards
• readiness to contribute cultural value across systems

This focus responds to documented workforce and equity data and does not preclude future expansion of pathways.

Recgonised Cultural Contributions

Recognised Cultural Contributions are defined, attributable outputs arising from cultural work that meet shared standards for provenance, authorship, and integrity.

These may include:

• products and manufactured goods
• garments, textiles, and materials
• programs, practices, or methodologies
• services and/or experiences delivered through defined parameters

Intangible contributions are recognised as documented practices or services, not abstract labour or personal qualities.

Recognition applies only to the approved contribution.

How are cultural contributions assessed?

Cultural contributions are reviewed through a Cultural Contribution Assessment (CCA) — a structured, standards-based review of a defined practice, program, or output.

Assessment considers:

• how the contribution is defined and delivered
• how it aligns with shared standards
• how integrity and authorship are maintained
• how value is generated in context

This enables recognition and attribution without reducing cultural work to subjective judgement.

Approved Studios, Organisations & Institutions

Studios, galleries, schools, manufacturers, and cultural institutions may be recognised as Approved Organisations within the Commons Framework where they:

• support recognised practitioners
• enable the delivery of recognised cultural contributions
• align with shared, non-statutory standards
• commit to provenance, continuity, integrity, and fair practice

Approved status signals institutional alignment with the Commons Framework and its shared language of value.

It does not:

• certify individuals
• license practice
• confer regulatory authority
• authorise use of the Commons Seal on unrecognised contributions

Approved Organisations help carry the Commons Framework in practice by supporting recognised work without exercising authority over it.

Commons Collaborating Centres (by designation)

Commons Collaborating Centres are Approved Organisations that take an active role in advancing the Culture & Provenance sector within the Commons Framework.

By designation, these centres may:

• support education and learning delivery
• pilot Cultural Contribution Assessments (CCA) within shared standards
• host or steward recognised cultural contributions
• contribute to sector development in collaboration with the Creative Women’s Association (CWA)

Designation as a Commons Collaborating Centre reflects a higher level of stewardship and responsibility in service of the common good.

This designation:

• is non-statutory
• does not confer regulatory authority
• does not license practice or certify individuals
• signals trusted participation and contribution within the Commons Framework