Malasimbo Festival finds a new home in Intramuros for its 2025 run happening on March 8. Next year’s festival at Puerta Real Gardens will feature a live music stage, a DJ stage, art installations, a kids stage, and a light show, according to a teaser posted on their social media pages. The British professional loudspeaker Funktion-One has also been tapped for Malasimbo’s sound system, the poster read.
The music, arts, environment, and culture festival. resumes its programming after postponing this year’s event, owing to production complications. In the same Facebook post, its organizers said they were open to relocating and finding a new home for their production.
In 2020, the festival moved out of Puerto Galera, where it has been held since 2011 at an amphitheater on the foot of Mt. Malasimbo (except in 2015 and 2019 when it was done at Puerto Galera Bay and the White Beach, respectively), opting to stage the festivities at La Mesa Eco Park in Quezon City.
The 2025 production is also notably shorter than previous years, lasting only one day. Malasimbo has historically been staged over two or more days in February or March.
Malasimbo is organized by Volume Unit Entertainment and hosted by nonprofit, non-government D’Aboville Foundation. Part of the motivation behind the festival is to create an advocacy-driven event that will champion indigenous culture and the environment. In previous years, the festival has taken on ecological conservation and protection projects as part of its program. Its second year, for example, benefited endangered tamaraw populations endemic to Mindoro.
Throughout its 10 runs, the festival has developed a following for its diverse programming, combining local and international musical acts with art installations, performance art, wellness workshops, and talks that highlight IP customs and traditions, particularly of the Mangyan community of Oriental Mindoro, who are beneficiaries of the festival.
Malasimbo has yet to announce a lineup for March 2025. However, organizers are already set on making it inclusive to children with the formal addition of a kids stage. The festival has long been regarded as a family-friendly event with its daytime schedules and tourism-oriented activities when it was still in Puerto Galera.
