The Rotary Club of Cataraqui-Kingston is planning to again support the work of Darkspark. We invite Rotary H.I.P. club members and other interested clubs in our District to join us.
Darkspark, founded by musicians Melissa Larkin and D’Ari Lisle and now in its 10th year, promotes intercultural understanding by giving voice to youth on social justice issues through engaging them in songwriting (including rap) and storytelling supported by professional musicians, videographers, and educators. The song and project story videos are circulated widely on social media platforms used by artists internationally.
Darkspark’s newest program VERSIONS, under development for two years, is about to launch this year. The Versions Project Web site announcing the program and calling for youth to apply is now available. The year-long program will support the work of 30 BIPOC (Black, Indigenous, People of Colour) youth fellows, at least half Canadian, and at least 5 Indigenous, to work each with their own communities. The program is being promoted in five regions to potential fellows: North America, the United Kingdom, The Caribbean, West Africa, and South Africa. These regions will also be the focus of the colonial history Fellowship curriculum. The program has four pillars or cornerstones:
- anti-racism and anti-discrimination
- arts skill building
- leadership/mentorship with entrepreneurship
- wellness (balance of maintaining a healthy lifestyle)
It has multiple stages: call for application (due April 15), selection of fellows (May 2022), summit (June 2022) to prepare fellows, monthly events and themes within the four pillars, fellows working in their communities to engage youth in songwriting, storytelling, video production, and culminating in home-grown community impact projects. An important outcome will be an anti-racism toolkit for classrooms and the establishment of a network of community organizations in each location.
Part of our role as Rotarians would be to keep in touch with the fellow and their community and help to spread the word about this work through our Rotary networks and so deepen our own understanding of the issues youth are facing and the power of the arts to effect transformation in the lives of youth. To view the media kit, click here VERSIONS Content Kit .
Soon, with Rene Melchers, I'll be planning an information session on Zoom to provide more information about the program and discuss how we can work together to support the program, beginning in this Rotary year and extending into 2022-23.