Blastbeat Schools Program:
Award winning and impactful music and events entreprenuership training program for educational organisations, students and educators around the world.
Announcing the relaunch of Blastbeat App in
2025
Preparing High School Students for the Real World of Entrepreneurship and Empowering Them to Create Blue Ocean Businesses.
Create Globally, Impact Locally
The Blastbeat Schools Challenge is an innovative global platform combining music, climate education, and youth-led social enterprises.
Resurrected in 2025 with cutting-edge AI integration and app-based learning, this program empowers the next generation of creative changemakers
How it Works
Register for the challenge: either as an individual or form a team with up to four classmates to collaborate on your music and climate action project.
Identify a pressing environmental issue in your school, workspace, community or globally that needs awareness and action, or discover a unique approach to climate advocacy that hasn't been explored.
Create an innovative Event Social Enterprise (ESE) that combines musical expression or sports with climate action, developing something that creatively addresses your chosen environmental challenge.
Organize an in-person event in your school or community where you'll perform your musical or sports creation and engage participants in meaningful climate action activities. This live component is essential to the Blastbeat experience.
Document your event's impact by collecting feedback, measuring environmental outcomes, and gathering evidence of community engagement and awareness raised.
Review our scoring criteria to ensure your project effectively integrates the music-climate framework and meets the Blastbeat Schools Challenge requirements for both digital and in-person components.
Use the Blastbeat project template to structure your presentation, highlighting your musical creation, the live event execution, and the connection to meaningful climate action.
Record a 5-minute video showcase of your project including highlights from your live event, upload it to the Blastbeat app, and submit both the link and video file for evaluation by our global panel.
Prepare for potential participation in regional and global showcase events where selected teams will perform live and share their climate action initiatives with a wider audience.
PAST SPONSORS:
How is the
Blastbeat Schools Challenge Different from Other Music and Climate Competitions?
Other Music & Climate Competitions
- Treat music and climate action as separate activities with limited integration.
- Focus primarily on artistic performance OR environmental activism, rarely combining both effectively.
- Often require expensive travel to central locations, limiting global participation.
- Need existing music production equipment or climate action experience to participate.
- Provide limited guidance on how to create impactful projects.
- Winners receive recognition primarily for artistic achievement.
- Prizes typically benefit only the participating students.
Blastbeat Schools Challenge
- Students learn a proven methodology to integrate music and climate action through the Event Social Enterprise (ESE) model.
- Students pursue both creative expression AND measurable environmental impact to develop holistic projects.
- Young people can participate from anywhere in the world through our digital platform and local events.
- Complete beginners with just passion for music and climate action can fully participate with our step-by-step resources.
- Comprehensive tools, templates, and the Blastbeat app are provided to guide project development from concept to execution.
- Students are recognized for participation, creative achievement, climate impact, AND digital engagement through our micro-credential system.
- Students, teachers, and schools all benefit
from resources, recognition, and potential funding for continued climate action initiatives.
Why Compete in the
Blastbeat Schools Challenge?
Get real-world experience in creative social entrepreneurship.
This is a practical exercise in combining artistic expression with environmental action and business skills.
Identify a pressing environmental issue in your school, workspace, community or globally that needs awareness and action, or discover a unique approach to climate advocacy that hasn't been explored.
Make your school/college/university applications
stand out by participating in a global challenge that demonstrates your commitment to both creativity and climate action.
Learn about the Event Social Enterprise (ESE) model, an innovative approach to creating sustainable impact through music and performance.
Gain valuable experience developing and implementing projects that combine musical expression with meaningful climate initiatives
Develop essential skills in creative collaboration,
project management, community engagement, digital content creation, and environmental advocacy.
Get feedback from music industry professionals, climate experts, and social entrepreneurs who will mentor and evaluate your project.
Win support and resources for yourself and your school
to continue your climate action journey. No constraints on how you develop your initiative further.
Connect globally with like-minded young changemakers
and be part of an international movement using music to drive climate action!
MADE POSSIBLE BY THE SUPPORT OF:
The Global
Blastbeat Schools Challenge Movement
Building on our legacy of impact
+300,000
Students reached through Blastbeat
50+
Countries with Blastbeat presence historically
+5 Million
Young people reached through Climate Actions Now and CANMusic
2025
Year of digital relaunch with AI integration
Join Over 300,000
Young People
Who've Transformed
Their Future
Music • Business • Climate Action
The ESE Challenge combines your passion for music with real business experience and meaningful climate action. Build confidence, develop leadership skills, and create lasting impact.
✨ Join schools across Ireland already transforming education
Your 3-Month Transformation Journey
What Inspired the Challenge?
The Blastbeat Schools Challenge is inspired by Robert Stephenson's groundbreaking work with Climate Actions Now and CANMusic, which has collectively reached millions of people worldwide.
The Blastbeat Schools Challenge inspires young people to:
- Harness the universal power of music
as a catalyst for environmental change;
- Develop practical skills
in project management, teamwork, and digital content creation;
- Enhance critical thinking by analyzing complex environmental challenges;
- See creative opportunities where others see climate challenges;
- Drive community engagement where others see apathy;
- Address environmental issues through innovative artistic expression;
- Build real-world entrepreneurial experience through hands-on learning;
- Create sustainable Event Social Enterprises using structured frameworks and tools;
- Make learning fun and engaging through creative expression and meaningful action;
- Provide educators with cross-curricular teaching opportunities
that integrate arts and sciences;
- Develop projects that unite musical passion with meaningful climate action for a better world!
Join Us in Creating a Generation of Creative, Conscious Changemakers.
Fund a school. Mentor a team. Bring Blastbeat to your region.
Join the Blastbeat School Competition Mission
After 20 years, and reaching Millions of people, 2025 is the year of launching...Blastbeat App
360,000+
Students Empowered
10 million
Youth by 2030
Global Impact
From local communities to international stages, BlastBeat showcases youth talent and success stories, creating pathways to professional careers.
🔄 The Relaunch: Built for the Future
Now, in 2025, Blastbeat has re-emerged with a digital-first model. With a mobile app in development and renewed partnerships in South Africa and beyond, the platform is once again poised to scale, this time at a fraction of the cost and with real-time impact tracking, gamified learning, and climate project integration.
With its roots in creativity and its eyes on sustainability, Blastbeat is ready for its next chapter: reaching 2,000+ schools by 2027.
Innovative Programs at BlastBeat
Meet Our Founder
Passionate Leaders Committed to Youth Empowerment
Robert Stephenson - Founder & CEO
At BlastBeat, our dedicated team is the driving force behind our mission to empower youth through music, climate action, and entrepreneurship. Each member brings unique skills and a shared passion for making a difference in the lives of young people around the globe.
Get Involved with BlastBeat
Join us in empowering youth through music, climate action, and entrepreneurship—your support can make a difference!
Upcoming Events & Competitions
BlastBeat Program Registrations
Registrations aree currently open for Blastbeat 2026, which is positioned to be like any other in our 20 years of existence. If you are a student, educator, educational organisation or simply looking for an immersive team building experience, then now is the best time to register for Blastbeat 2026 🤗
Songs For Our Climate Competition 2025
Applications open for a month, Every 3 Months.
An exciting competition where anyone can submit songs about the climate, environmental challenges and
Empowering Voices, Inspiring Change
Blastbeat is a fantastic example of the kind of organization that gives young people real skills in ways that excite them. You can feel the confidence and energy it builds. It’s imaginative, fun, and genuinely valuable, not just for students, but for schools and businesses too."
- Nick Hurd MP, Former UK Minister for Civil Society
Faq
Frequently Asked Questions
1 - What is an ESE?
- An ESE is an Events Social Enterprise. These are the companies that the students create in order to participate in the Blastbeat programme.
- Between 6 and 15 students are required to create the ESE.
- Each student takes on a role fundamental to the running of the company.
- CEO, Sales and Marketing Manager, Finance Manager, PR Manager, Photographer, IT Manager, Journalist, Promoter/Event Manager and Film Director are just some of the roles available. In addition, there are a number of part-time positions available.
- Students in the full time management positions in the company will need to attend at least one meeting per week and undertake specific tasks and assessments which are then graded by BlastBeat team leaders.
- Tasks include: setting up a website, formulating a business plan, scouting for bands and musicians, producing and promoting the concert, and performance assessment.
- The students must work together and manage their time effectively in order to achieve the overall objective of creating and running a successful company and organising a music concert featuring six bands.
- An ESE is an Events Social Enterprise. These are the companies that the students create in order to participate in the Blastbeat programme.
2 - What are the rules of selection for the bands?
- A max of two bands only can be from the ESE's school
- At least one significant member (i.e. not the tambourine player) of the band must be currently in second level education at the time of selection
- A participating band does not have to be from the school where the ESE is based.
- No band can be in any more than one ESE Blastbeat concert.
- An individual musician or person can be in more than one band at the same time, as long as the other band contains more than two different members.
- The band must not be already signed to a record company or publishing company.
- The band must not play more than one cover song in their performance, which should be a 15 minute set or 3 songs whichever is shortest.
- All types or styles of music are permissible, including Rock, Punk, Metal, Pop, Country, Folk, Hip Hop, Rap, R+B, Blues, Jazz etc.
- All judges decisions are FINAL and no debate will be entered into over judges decision.
- A max of two bands only can be from the ESE's school
3 - What do ESEsdo for the Regional Finals?
- ESEs will continue to promote their bands for the Regional Finals and National Finals should their bands qualify.
- ESEs will pre-sell tickets for the event and promote the event in their schools & communities.
4 - Who Judges the Blastbeat Events?
- The ESE concert will be judged by Music & Media industry experts. There will be 3 judges present at each ESE concert. 1 representative from Blastbeat will judge each ESE event. The other 2 judges will be sourced by the ESE and will ideally be a representative from the local press and also the local radio.
- Judges for the Regional & National Finals will be chosen by Blastbeat and will be music & media industry experts as well as representatives from Blastbeat.
5 - How do I know how well my ESE is performing in relation to other MMCs’?
- Each ESE is appraised monthly based on the completion of the various assessments outlined in the Blastbeat programme.
- Blastbeat Regional managers will inform the ESEs of their points tally at the end of each month.
- ESEs will not know their position relative to other MMCs until the winners are announced at the National Final event and the league table is posted on this website post event.
6 - How does the Exhibition work at the National Final?
- All participating ESEs from both Module 1 & Module 2 will attend the Blastbeat exhibition and will present all the work that they have done throughout the year at their display stand. Items that should be displayed would include the business plan, their Blastspace profile, artwork, photographs, editorial pieces, journalistic articles and videos etc.
- Each ESE can have a maximum of 8 company members to present at their stands for the Blastbeat Exhibition.
- Each ESE should have at least 3 good speakers present at the exhibition so that there is always at least one well informed person available at all times to represent the mini company in conversation with the judges.
- 20% of the total marks is going for the end of year presentation and this will be judged by representatives from Blastbeat as well as a variety of independent judges from various different business backgrounds.
7 - How many bands qualify for the Regional & National Finals?
- To be updated
8 - What are the prizes for the Winning Bands & ESEs??
- To be updated