The appointment will help finance scientific research lines, programs for the inclusion of people with disabilities and projects to support Palestinian refugees and migrant women in 2025.
‘Celebrating life’ is the motto that will guide the 30th edition of the international reggae festival Rototom Sunsplash, to be held from August 16 to 23, 2025 in Benicàssim. A declaration of intentions to backbone the cultural agenda that the event is already finalizing for its new landing this summer and an “invitation to live with a conscience”, according to the management. A conscience that in this “round” edition emerges again in the commitment to the solidarity aspect of the festival, contributing to finance social projects.
Thus, this 2025 Rototom Sunsplash will allocate 10 euros from each one of the inclusive season tickets (which allow free access to the festival for children under 13, over 65 and people with disabilities) to the actions of four NGOs: Human Call (Lebanon), A la par (Madrid), the Valencian AIPHYC and the local Conquistando Escalones. The public of each group will be able to choose the entity to which they want their contribution to go.
“Each year we have dedicated the festival to a different argument. Throughout these editions we have highlighted in the chosen slogan the values of Rototom Sunsplash, such as peace, freedom, respect or solidarity, inviting to reflect on great human and social issues of our time. In the end, if we look back over these 30 years of journey, through the talks and activities that have supported and enriched our musical lineup, but above all through the experience of living and living together in the framework of this festival, we have celebrated life,” details the director of Rototom Sunsplash, Filippo Giunta.
“Celebrating life means appreciating, honoring and fully enjoying existence, recognizing the value and beauty of life itself. With its moments of joy, of gratitude, of reflection, of sharing experiences, like the one that makes Rototom possible every summer,” he adds. “When thousands of people of different ages, cultures and backgrounds manage to live together peacefully and joyfully, creating a world of peace and love, that is ‘celebrating life’. And in these times of war and hatred in many parts of the world, we want to celebrate these values more strongly than ever. Celebrating life is our leitmotif on this long-awaited anniversary; light, and calm, in complicated times,” says Giunta.
The social and solidarity action of Rototom Sunsplash 2025 will focus on four entities from different geographical areas.
One of them is the Association Human Callan entity created by the Palestinian population in the Ein El Hilweh refugee camp (Sidon, Lebanon), where more than 130,000 people live in precarious conditions and where it runs the Al Nida’a HospitalHospital, the only existing health center in the camp, currently overwhelmed by the immensity of the health and humanitarian emergency. Medical care for Palestinian refugees in Lebanon’ is the project to which the collaboration will be destined in this 30th edition. It aims to collect and guarantee the necessary human and material resources – from fuel for the hospital generator and fuel for ambulances to essential medical supplies such as surgical material or support for first aid teams – for the operation of the hospital center and to enable it to provide decent care to the population and continue saving lives.
The collaboration with Rototom will also allow, according to Human Call, to continue spreading the message of the Palestinian diaspora and raising awareness about this reality to the public of cultural events, as it has already done previously in events such as Festival Interpueblos or Festiclown, or through campaigns such as Rumbo a Gaza or those promoted together with the Committee for Solidarity with the Arab Cause.
Joining this solidarity initiative is the A la Par Foundation (Carmen Pardo-Valcarce Foundation), which has been working for 75 years for the full inclusion of people with intellectual disabilities and the promotion of their active participation in society through training, employment, diversity, leisure and promotion of independent living, directly benefiting more than 3,000 people. Rock A La Par is the initiative that will support Rototom Sunsplash in its 2025 edition. It seeks to surprise, inspire and make visible the talent of people with intellectual disabilities, also in the musical field, through the formation of a pop rock band composed entirely of artists from this group. David Summers, from Hombres G, and the composer and guitarist Pedro Andrea, sponsor and accompany the band members in this musical adventure.
AIPHYC was born in Valencia, a non-profit organization that works to empower and dignify the situation of domestic and care professionals, to make visible the relevance of this sector in society and to guarantee the rights of those who work in it, mostly migrant women from southern countries. In its seven years of existence, AIPHYC has promoted various pioneering initiatives, such as its EDD: School for Women Activists and Defenders of Rights, to recover and protect the cultural identity of these domestic and care professionals -many of whom are in an irregular situation and immersed in processes of precariousness and disempowerment- and to generate support networks among them. The aim of Rototom Sunsplash’s collaboration with AIPHYC is to help strengthen this initiative. This support is “invaluable for our social action, because through an international event like this we can reach a wider public and raise awareness of the living conditions of these migrant women domestic and care workers,” the organization says.
Closer to home, with Vila-real as its epicenter, emerges Conquering Stepsa non-profit association created a decade ago by affected people, relatives and friends of those affected by Limb-girdle Muscular Dystrophy type LGMD-1F. The genetic mutation of these patients immunizes them against HIV, which is why research to achieve a treatment for this disease has also opened a door to hope in the fight against AIDS. The objective of the solidarity action promoted by Rototom Sunsplash is to continue collecting support to promote clinical trials and scientific research promoted by Conquistando Escalones against this degenerative and hereditary disease. Specifically, it will support research with the University of Valencia led by Dr. Rubén Artero focused on testing the effectiveness of different drugs in the laboratory in order to perform the first test on patients.