From booming bass lines to quiet chords, sampling others’ sounds is a staple across music genres and around the world today. Its roots date back to the dub music and dance halls of late-1960s Jamaica when it was known as versioning. It was more egalitarian then — instrumental tracks were shared, not sold, so any artist anywhere could record their own lyrics over the riddims and tell their stories.

 The VERSIONS Project was born out of that tradition. Powered by internationally recognized not-for-profit Darkspark, VERSIONS provides a platform for racialized youth around the world to share their voices through musical storytelling. Equally important, it gives them the tools to confront and explore systemic racism, connect and collaborate with social justice-minded peers and create community action plans to affect social change. Call it pop culture with purpose.

Beginning with the launch of a Fellowship Program, and culminating with a global Call-to-Action, VERSIONS believes that youth are not the leaders of tomorrow, but of today.