Heroes Festival 2025 is a musical journey across Milan, Genoa, Turin, Naples, and Rome.
A widespread festival weaving together music, innovation, and social sustainability, sparking dialogue between visionary artists and changemakers committed to the goals of the UN 2030 Agenda.
In collaboration with ASviS and the UN SDG Action Campaign, Heroes returns as an ambassador of the Festival of Sustainable Development, guided by the theme World of Strangers — a narrative shaped by encounters, relationships, and new possibilities.
Opening this new edition are the soulful, cinematic sounds of Martha Da’ro and the sharp, urban energy of Lina Simons.
BIO
Music Innovation Hub designs innovative and socially responsible projects within the music sector.
Founded in Milan in 2018, it is Italy’s first social enterprise joint-stock company (S.p.A. impresa sociale) dedicated to music. It is backed by the Giordano dell’Amore Social Venture Foundation — the social impact investment fund of Fondazione Cariplo — by OxA srl, a special purpose company formed by the Temporary Business Association (Accapiù Srl, Arci Milano, Avanzi Srl, Esterni, Make a Cube Srl) created to develop the BASE Milano project, and by Sefea Impact, Italy’s first asset management company (SGR) solely dedicated to establishing, promoting, and managing closed-end investment funds based exclusively on impact investing strategies, acting on behalf of the SI – Social Impact Fund.
Music Innovation Hub operates to empower the growth of the music industry and its stakeholders, guiding companies toward a more sustainable future through music-driven projects.
It promotes training, incubation, acceleration, and networking programs both across Italy and internationally, such as Linecheck Music Meeting and Festival.
Since 2018, MIH has placed the innovation of the music ecosystem and the dissemination of the 2030 Agenda at the heart of all its activities.
MIH envisions music as a catalyst for social innovation: Music is Social Change.
The Italian Alliance for Sustainable Development (ASviS) was founded on February 3, 2016, through an initiative by Fondazione Unipolis and the University of Rome “Tor Vergata”, with the mission of raising awareness within society, businesses, and institutions about the importance of the 2030 Agenda for Italy’s future, and of promoting a widespread culture of sustainability.
Today, the Alliance brings together over 320 member organizations, including leading institutions and civil society networks, contributing the expertise of more than a thousand specialists involved in thematic and cross-cutting working groups.
ASviS is deeply committed to fostering the active engagement of its members by offering new opportunities for exchange, training, knowledge-sharing, and collaboration.
ARTISTS
Pasqualina De Simone, known artistically as Lina Simons, was born in Pozzuoli (NA) to a Nigerian mother and an Italian father. She grew up between Castel Volturno (CE) and Cerreto Sannita (BN), places that profoundly shaped her personal and artistic journey. From a young age, she showcased a powerful communicative talent, producing satirical videos on social media that tackled stereotypes about Afro-descendant Italians with wit and intelligence. This ability to intertwine social issues and entertainment marked the very beginning of her artistic path.
After graduating from high school, Lina moved to London, where she found the perfect environment to nurture her music and artistic vision. There, she earned a degree in Music Business and Entrepreneurship, strengthening her foundation in the industry.
With Mine, she released six singles and an album titled “P.A.S”, establishing herself as one of the most distinctive voices of the new music scene. In recent years, she has performed at some of Italy’s most important festivals and stages, including the MIAMI Festival and the May Day Concert in Rome, broadcast live on RAI. She has also appeared as a guest and contributor on Propaganda Live on LA7, continuing to bring her music to audiences in Italy and beyond.
Martha Da’ro is a multidisciplinary Belgian-Angolan artist whose creative career spans music, film, and theater.
In 2020, she released her EP “Cheap Wine & Paris”, a genre-defying work she herself describes as Diaspop.
Considering all facets of her artistic expression, Da’ro’s solo debut, PHILOPHOBIA (meaning: the fear of being loved), is an intensely cinematic experience in every sense. Its atmosphere feels both like an evocative sound installation and a direct musical statement.
With a voice that is delicate yet commanding, Martha Da’ro crafted an album where every track acts as both soundtrack and narrative. This storytelling dimension seamlessly translates into her live performances — an avant-garde, hypnotic fusion of moods and styles: from R&B influences to hypermodern electrified soul, all the way to a contemporary interpretation of the blues.
Imagine Billie Holiday, reimagined through the prism of Björk.
She is currently still touring with Philophobia, working on new music, and writing for an immersive theater production.