Ivannia Lazzaro is one of many WIPO Academy alumni applying her intellectual property (IP) knowledge and skills in innovative and creative fields. She is an artist and owns a creative small and medium-sized enterprise (SME), which she protects using IP as a tool to ensure her creations live on to serve her business, her family and her community.
Setting the stage
In the middle of the Costa Rican rainforest in the San Jerónimo district of Esparza, is Teatro La Cambusina, a small 80-seat theater that is a creative haven for actors, musical performers and playwrights. The theater was established and is run by Ivannia Lazzaro, a playwright, actor and painter. Ivannia set up Teatro La Cambusina in 2017 as a creative SME to generate employment and artistic opportunities for actors and writers in rural areas of the country. The stage of Teatro La Cambusina has been used to share many important stories, and is a platform for addressing topics such as women’s rights, children’s rights and other important social issues.
When Ivannia was on maternity leave, she started writing, and the circumstances she experienced motivated her to share stories about obstetric violence and women’s breastfeeding rights. She wrote three plays, which she published in an anthology in 2020 entitled Mi Mundo En Una Teta y otras barbaridades. She also presented her plays on different occasions in hospitals and universities before the onset of the pandemic; at the International Breastfeeding Congress in Colombia in 2019, and the First Latin American Breastfeeding Meeting in Guatemala.
Protecting her dramatic legacy
As a playwright, performer and theater owner, Ivannia is very aware of the importance of protecting her IP having registered her anthology at the Registry of Intellectual Property of Costa Rica in 2018, and having filed a trademark for Teatro La Cambusina the year before.
In 2021, the National Institute for Women in Costa Rica extended an invitation to Ivannia for the pilot session of the Women Leaders in IP and Invention Launchpad, which is jointly offered by the WIPO Academy, the Korean Intellectual Property Office, and the Korean Women Inventors Association. During the course, she learned about her copyright and legacy rights, including how her children can inherit her IP and benefit from the royalties.
« Register your creations, your trademarks and protect your work. It is not just for your own benefit, but that of your next of kin. Your IP is your legacy. »
Ms. Ivannia Lazzaro, founder of Teatro La Cambusina
Ivannia explains that the trademark and branding of Teatro La Cambusina are now fused with her personality and identity among the artistic community in Costa Rica.
In the near future, Ivannia hopes to expand the seating space of Teatro La Cambusina to fit more than 80 audience members per show, and to improve the infrastructure and offerings of the theater. As a painter, she also plans to someday open an art gallery space to showcase her paintings, and other artistic works of fellow artists in Costa Rica.
« As a business owner, registering your trademark is essential because it formalizes your work and helps you build a reputation for what you offer. »
Ms. Ivannia Lazzaro, founder of Teatro La Cambusina
Interested in building your IP knowledge and skills?
The WIPO Academy’s offerings enable participants to expand their IP knowledge and skills, helping them build careers at the interface of IP and other related fields such as business entrepreneurship, creative industries and the sciences. It provides year-long opportunities for those wishing to develop their IP knowledge and skills through its Professional Development Program, Distance Learning courses, Joint Master’s Programs and WIPO Summer Schools.
To learn from our alumni and their experiences, please connect to our growing alumni community on LinkedIn by joining the WIPO Academy’s official “Academy Community”.
