SF’s Largest Filipino Creative Market Returns As a Theme Park Inspired Daytime Festival
UNDISCOVERED SF returns for its sixth season as a sprawling daytime market with notable guests World Renowned DJ Miles Medina and Bon Appétit Chef Harold Villarosa
Parks at 5M | photo credit: Chan Photos
San Francisco, CA - September 19, 2022 - UNDISCOVERED (UNDSCVRD) SF — San Francisco’s premier Filipino Night Market and Food & Music Festival — is back for its sixth season as a daytime, theme park-inspired festival on October 22, 2022 from 12-6pm. This year UNDSCVRD, a Kultivate Labs and Make it Mariko creation, spans several locations in the SOMA Pilipinas Filipino Cultural Heritage District and welcomes notable Filipino American guests such as DJ Miles Medina and Chef Harold Villarosa.
“I’m so excited to finally be able to bring UNDISCOVERED SF back after two years of Covid and community isolation,” says Gina Rosales, Co-Founder of UNDISCOVERED SF and Founder of Make it Mariko & Pinayista. “We first closed down these streets around Minna and Mary Street in 2018 and took over three empty parking lots behind the Chronicle building to create a vibrant Filipino Night Market. Now we’re coming full circle four years later - where a beautiful park now stands - and we’re bringing the same energy of our Filipino American community together to celebrate our culture and support entrepreneurs, small businesses, and artists once again.”
Bigger and Better Than Ever
This year’s UNDSCVRD offers a full sensory experience and unparalleled entertainment, welcoming notable Filipino guests such as musician DJ Miles Medina and New York-based Chef Harold Villarosa of Bon Appétit, who will be debuting a new pop-up concept. Two stages, over six venues, over 15 food vendors, including The Lumpia Company & Señor Sisig, and over 50 retail vendors will bring UNDSCVRD to life for an estimated 8,000 attendees.
“The pandemic slowed down our progress to develop SOMA Pilipinas, but 2022 will show we’re gonna kick start our momentum into overdrive. We are excited to be working with Chef Harold Villarosa and we will be unveiling a new program called Vacant to Vibrant at UNDSCVRD to fill empty storefronts in SOMA Pilipinas with pop-up retail and food businesses that will jumpstart a new Filipino renaissance San Francisco,” says Desi Danganan, Executive Director of Kultivate Labs.
Chef Harold — born in the Philippines and raised in South Bronx, New York City — has been featured in numerous media outlets over the years including VICE’s ‘Munchies’, NY1 where he was named ‘New Yorker of the Week’, and is now one of the featured hosts on Bon Appétit with his new show ‘Dish It Out’. Villarosa also runs a non-profit organization called Insurgo Project, where he teaches youth in low-income neighborhoods about food justice and gives them first-hand experience on what it takes to make it in the restaurant industry.
“My move to San Francisco (BX ALL DAY!) was definitely influenced by what I’d experienced at UNDSCVRD in the past—it’s a super inspiring event and I’m beyond thrilled to be participating in it this year. It’s all about the community, good food, and the people and I live for that,” says Chef Harold Villarosa. “Having an opportunity to participate this year is an honor and I was humbled by the invitation. We want to showcase what Filipino food looks like in the eyes of a Filipino-American, how we interpret that and what we feel our food could look and taste like in the future. “
Halo Halo from Turontastic | photo credit: Kultivate Labs
In celebration of Filipino American History Month this October, the open air event encourages festival-goers to explore SOMA Pilipinas while connecting with different aspects of Filipino culture.
The UNDSCVRD layout includes Kapwa Gardens, the newly opened 5M Park, Minna St, Minna Tunnel, CAST Building, Mary Ct Paseo, and Natoma St. In addition to three full street closures and a huge outdoor park to host the Main Stage, the CAST Building will host artist exhibitions featuring grantees of Balay Kreative (a Kultivate Labs project) and Kapwa Gardens (another Kultivate Labs project) will include a community-curated stage in partnership with SOMA Pilipinas.
The Bigger Picture: Economic Development in the Cultural District
Kapwa Gardens in SOMA Pilipinas | photo credit: Kultivate Labs
UNDISCOVERED SF is a non-profit venture designed to jump-start economic activity and public awareness of SOMA Pilipinas. UNDSCVRD is one of many creative projects of Kultivate Labs, whose vision includes a multi-prong strategy to build a thriving commercial corridor in the Filipino Cultural Heritage District SOMA Pilipinas. Kultivate Labs envisions commerce that is culturally relevant, financially resilient, and adaptable to the market needs of all San Franciscans, including Filipinos and other BIPOC community members who are otherwise displaced.
Under the Kultivate Labs umbrella and in addition to UNDSCVRD, the team fuels numerous other community initiatives and projects to this end including:
Kapwa Gardens: a city-owned parking lot turned art & wellness pop-up and healing space for the community. Kapwa Gardens is the first public space in San Francisco designed with COVID-19 in mind to create a healing space for people to be outdoors and gather safely. KG has a constant rotation of open air events.
SEED Network: provides business owners access to solutions, resources and our network to stimulate economic activity and growth. Every year SEED selects 6-8 SOMA based businesses for extensive 1:1 consulting services that span PR, branding, accounting, legal, or web design to accelerate their growth for free. In 2022, the SEED Network will be deploying $236,00 in grants to help small businesses thrive.
Balay Kreative: a future Filipino-American arts hub and accelerator in SOMA Pilipinas. They recently announced their Kreative Growth Grants to accelerate the growth of Filipinx artistic expression in SOMA Pilipinas.
For more information and to RSVP, please visit www.undiscoveredsf.com. Attendees who reserve their tickets receive a free commemorative pin.
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About Kultivate Labs
Kultivate Labs is a Non-profit Economic Development and Arts Organization. They create thriving commercial ecosystems by accelerating businesses that preserve culture and community. They provide space and opportunities for the arts to flourish so that commercial activities are activated and reflect the community at large.
About Make it Mariko
Make it Mariko (pronounced MAH-ri-ko) is an all woman of color, Bay Area event production & design company creating magical, meaningful moments for the community. They are experience curators, community activators, corporate planners, nonprofit advocates, and event enthusiasts looking to challenge the status quo and diversify the events industry.