PHOTOS: MadSoul Festival 2025 combines music and advocacy in Orlando

(Photo by Bellanee Plaza)

ORLANDO | U.S. Rep. Maxwell Frost brought his MadSoul Music & Arts Festival to the Orlando Amphitheater Dec. 6 for a day of music and advocacy.

This year’s festival had over 5,000 tickets claimed including performers, speakers and volunteers. Its powerhouse lineup of music included Magdalena Bay, Cuco, Aly & AJ and featured speakers included U.S. Rep. Ayanna Pressley, state Sen. LaVon Bracy Davis, Tennessee Rep. Justin Jones and more.

The Renaissance Theatre Company performed a series of covers from Beyoncé with Frost playing on the drums, including a full live band and performances from Angelica Jones.

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Last year’s event had 3,500 attendees and featured a lineup of artists and speakers, including U.S. Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Tony Award-winning performer Lin-Manuel Miranda.

As performances went on outside at the main stage, The Black Box featured panels at different times with multiple speakers. During the “Building Progressive Power” panel, Frost joined Pressley, Rep. Anna V. Eskamani and Rep. Delia Ramirez to speak about the recent release of a Palestinian-American teenager from Tampa, Mohammed Ibrahim.

He was released after being held in an Israeli prison for over nine months. Ibrahim has since been reunited with his family in the West Bank. Ibrahim is the cousin of Sayfollah Musallet, a 20-year-old Palestinian-American man also from Tampa, who was beaten to death by Israeli settlers in July 2025 while protesting in the West Bank. No arrests have been made in Musallet’s killing.

Frost invited Ibrahim’s uncle onto the stage to share his appreciation to the fellow representatives on signing for Ibrahim’s release. Frost also thanked Ibrahim’s uncle for coming to Congress to lobby for the release of Ibrahim.

“We heard so many horrible things about what was going on in that prison,” Frost said. “There are hundreds of members of Congress and there were only 27 that signed on the letter to demand the release of a U.S. citizen and of a child. Delia, Ayanna and I were three of them and I just want to thank them for being here.”

Before the final performances, local officials running for office within the next two years came out to speak on the importance of voting. Pressley spoke to the audience about how communities need to support each other and gave a quote from Assata Shakur.

“It is our duty to fight for our freedom,” Pressley said. “It is our duty to win. We must love each other and support each other. We have nothing to lose but our chains.”

Shakur was a central figure in the Black Liberation Movement and used this phrase to galvanize action against the “chains” of racism, unjust incarceration and economic exploitation faced by Black people.

Although rain showers came in, the festival concluded with Magdalena Bay performance to a packed audience.

Watermark Out News attended the MadSoul Music & Arts Festival and you can view our photos below.

Photos by Bellanee Plaza.