SSUpstartby Soundscape

The programme

Exchange. Fund. Showcase. Tour. Award. Repeat every Friday.

Upstart is the Soundscape ecosystem collapsed into one named programme with one calendar. It is built so a creative can enter with a demo and leave with a finished body of work, a live audience, a grant receipt and a broadcast credit.

Who it's for

Five tracks, one cohort.

Artiste

Singers, rappers, performers. Write, record and perform a finished body of work with a live band behind you.

DJ

Selectors and turntablists. Build a signature set, learn the club economy, hold down a Loud Friday slot.

Producer

Beatmakers, engineers, sound designers. Studio blocks, mix clinics and placement sessions with working A&Rs.

Creator

Directors, editors, photographers and writers documenting the scene. Brief in, campaign out.

Exotic Talent

Dancers, instrumentalists, hype performers and stage acts that make a room move.

Not sure which lane?

Pick the closest one on the form and tell us what you actually do. We move people between tracks during selection.

Start your application

The phases

How the cycle runs.

Phase 01November 2026

UpstartX — the Exchange

Open call, selection and a peer-to-peer exchange pairing emerging talent with working professionals and the international network. Residency and workshops inside the Morres Sticks AV Studio.

  • Open call across all five tracks
  • Studio block — everyone leaves with finished work
  • Business of music, rights, distribution and creator-economy sessions
Phase 01BNovember — December 2026

The Upstart Fund

Small catalytic grants, deliberately sized: enough to finish the record, shoot the video, buy the controller, press the merch. Three creatives funded per track, judged on exchange output.

  • 15 grants across five tracks
  • Every grant tied to a declared deliverable
  • 90-day check-in and a public receipt
Phase 02December 2026

An Evening with Morres Sticks

The showcase after the exchange, at Curate Lagos. Intimate, filmed, industry-heavy — the night the cohort becomes public and the Fund winners are announced on stage.

  • Live performance backed by The Setup Band
  • Labels, A&Rs, brands, agencies and press in the room
  • Multi-cam capture feeding the docu-series
Phase 03December 2026

The Upstart MVP Category

A permanent emerging-talent category — Music, DJ and Producer — inside the Soundcity MVP Awards Festival. Broadcast surface no activation can buy.

  • Physical Upstart MVP plaque on the festival stage
  • Voting routed through SMS, USSD, app and web
  • Winners plugged into partner ecosystems
Phase 04January — April 2027

Upstart Campus Tour Series

Morres Sticks and The Setup Band, with the exchange counterparts, tour selected campuses. Perform, teach, recruit the next cohort.

  • 12+ campus stops across the academic term
  • Open masterclass: making it, monetising it, surviving it
  • On-campus entries for the next Upstart cycle
Always onEvery Friday, year-round

Loud Friday

The weekly sonic explosion that defines the weekend rhythm of the city. Bootcamp graduates debut as opening acts, residency artists test new material, and international SoundX participants showcase their Lagos-made music.

  • The room every emerging artist wants to be in
  • Franchise-ready export format for global nightlife circuits
  • Weekly proving ground between the big programme moments

What you get

Everything a cohort member walks away with.

  • Studio time inside the Morres Sticks AV Studio
  • Mentorship from working professionals and international counterparts
  • Eligibility for one of 15 Upstart Fund grants
  • Stage time at the showcase, campus tour and Loud Friday
  • Business of music, rights, distribution and money sessions
  • Multi-cam content capture you can use for your own channels
  • Entry into the Upstart MVP category at the Soundcity MVP Awards Festival
  • Alumni network access long after the cycle closes
A producer working at a mixing desk during an Upstart studio blockStudents at an Upstart campus tour show

The calendar

Key dates for the cycle.

Oct 2026

Open call

Applications open across all five tracks. Cohort briefings, campus roadshows and partner announcements.

Nov 2026

UpstartX + Fund

Selection, residency, studio blocks and grant judging inside the Morres Sticks AV Studio.

Dec 2026

Showcase & MVP

An Evening with Morres Sticks at Curate Lagos, then the Upstart MVP category at the Soundcity MVP Awards Festival.

Jan — Apr 2027

Campus tour

12+ campus stops, venue rotation, content roll-out and recruitment for the next cycle.

Ready to be in the cohort?

Registration is open across all five tracks.

Register now