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Creator economy
Kente
Set the rules for consent, credit and payment when a creator's work trains a model.
- Places
- 5
- Closes
- 15 October 2026
What is breaking
- Models were trained on work whose makers were never asked and never paid.
- Caribbean and African voices come out of them flattened, or as caricature.
- Work that used to go to a creator now goes to something cheaper that learned their style.
- A creator who suspects theft has no way to prove it and nowhere to file it.
Your work
- Define what consent and credit mean when a creator's work is used for training.
- Build a route for a Caribbean creator to show their work was taken.
- Set what publishers, labels, festivals and broadcasters have to disclose.
- Test the argument on working creators before it goes near a ministry.
The name
Kente is woven in narrow strips on Asante looms in Ghana, and every pattern carries a name. Some were held for particular families or reserved for the royal court, and the weaver of a cloth is known by name. A pattern had an owner and a meaning long before anyone drafted a copyright act.
What you deliver
- 01Name the harm using Caribbean evidence rather than figures borrowed from the United States and Europe.
- 02Write something a regulator, ministry, school board or publisher can adopt as written.
- 03Publish it as a named author.
- 04Take it into the rooms where StarApple AI and CAIA already sit with regulators and ministries.
Who applies
Writers, poets, spoken word artists, playwrights, songwriters, musicians, illustrators, editors, and students or graduates heading into any of it. No AI background needed.
One of the five places goes to someone living in a Caribbean country.
Apply to Kente
That is in
We read everything after 15 October 2026 and speak to the shortlist. You will hear back.
The other two fellowshipsQuestions
How long, and how many hours?+
Set with each cohort once the places are filled, so it works around exams and jobs. Regular meetings, work between them, assessments along the way. You see the schedule and the terms in writing before you accept.
Do I need an AI background?+
No. We need your subject knowledge. The AI side is ours to teach.
Can I apply to more than one?+
Pick your strongest. If two genuinely fit, say so and we read you for both.
I am not in the Caribbean.+
Apply. One place in each fellowship is held for someone living in the region. Say how you connect to the work.
Is it remote?+
Meetings run online. Anything in person is optional and covered.
After the deadline?+
We read everything, shortlist, then speak to the shortlist. Everyone hears back.
Finance, law, riskCowrie
Teachers, educationNyansapo