🌍 Celebrating 20 Years of Youth-Led Impact

The History of Blastbeat

Born in Dublin in 2003, Blastbeat began as a bold idea—to empower young people through music, real-world enterprise, and social purpose. It started with a few schools and a dream of turning creativity into community transformation.

A group of young men are playing guitars and singing into microphones on a stage.
A group of people posing for a picture with a woman wearing headphones t-shirts
A group of young men are playing guitars and singing into microphones on a stage.
A man is singing into a microphone while playing a guitar.

Where it all began...

At its peak, Blastbeat had:

850+

Facilitated 850+ youth-run concerts

3000+

Showcased over 3,000 original bands and acts

 300,000+

Reached more than 300,000 young audience members


360,000+

Global reach. Built a global community of educators, artists, mentors, and entrepreneurs

Empowering Voices, Inspiring Change

Blastbeat dramatically changed my life, taking me from the streets to pursuing positive, ambitious goals."


- Blastbeat Participant

A white background with a few lines on it
A white background with a few lines on it
A white background with a few lines on it
A white background with a few lines on it
A white background with a few lines on it
A group of people posing for a picture at an airport

In the begining...

Blastbeat began as a bold idea

Blastbeat ran as a multi‑award‑winning youth programme from 2003 to 2015, reaching young people across four continents, including Ireland, United Kingdom, United States, South Africa, Japan, South Korea and parts of Central and Northern Europe.

During this period, the programme attracted strong backing from leading sponsors, education departments and philanthropic and corporate leaders who recognised its unique ability to empower young people, artists, schools, sports clubs and communities while delivering real value for brands and sponsors.

Key supporters included Coca‑Cola (Ireland), Mr Price (South Africa), A Glimmer of Hope (USA), West Coast Music (USA), Enterprise Ireland, Social Entrepreneurs Ireland, the Departments of Education in Ireland and the UK, Barclays Bank, UnLtd, O2, the UK Cabinet Office, The Big Lottery Fund, and the community foundations of Arsenal and West Ham United, among many others.

A man in a suit and tie is holding two books in a stadium

our story

A Platform That Grew Beyond the Stage

More than just a concert series, Blastbeat became a real-life classroom for enterprise, leadership, collaboration, and civic action. Students formed Event Social Enterprises, took on business roles, ran climate-aligned events, and developed multimedia campaigns that gave them a voice, and a future.

In 2008, Blastbeat signed with William Morris Agency, one of the world’s largest entertainment networks, and laid the groundwork for a youth-focused TV series filmed across multiple countries.

🔄 The Relaunch: Built for the Future

Now, in 2025, Blastbeat has re-emerged with a digital-first model and evolution of the original analogue programme, delivered through a state‑of‑the‑art online platform and proprietary AI‑enabled app designed to scale easily across continents where the analogue model has already been successfully tested and loved in 11 countries.


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.

A group of people standing in front of a sign that says we shall rise

Want to be part of the next 20 years?

Partner with us. Fund a school. Mentor a team.
Together, we’ll turn music into movement, and youth into changemakers.

Contact Us