Dark Mofo will be back at “full strength” in 2025 after organisers watered down the annual tradition this year for a ‘period of renewal’.
The event, featuring rituals Winter Feast, the Ogoh-Ogoh, Night Mass and the Nude Solstice Swim will take over Hobart from Thursday 5 to Sunday 15 June, while the swim will go down on the morning of June 21.
Premier Jeremy Rockliff has promised the event will be “bigger than ever”.
“The last full strength event brought 31,356 people to Tasmania and an overall attendance of 430,000,” he said.
“We expect the next event to generate more than $4 for every $1 invested, a great thing for our economy, especially during the quieter winter months.”
Dark Mofo Artistic Director Chris Twite said the eleventh chapter of the event will once again paint the city red.
“What we have done over the last … two years, is really look back at what the festival is, reshape, renew and find those efficiencies that we can do to combat a dramatically changing economic climate to deliver the world-class and internationally recognised festival that we’ve come to love,” he said.
“What we’ve seen in the intervening years of Dark Mofo is costs going up dramatically.”
“Costs have skyrocketed increasingly higher over the last few years and that is what really prompted the festival to have to take that year off to look and find ways we could reduce those costs while still maintaining our quality.”
Twite said the festival is only happening because of the “continued generosity” of Museum of Old and New Art (MONA) owner David Walsh and “incredible work” from the state government.
“David Walsh remains a significant funder for the festival. He’s spent almost $30 million over the last 10 years to deliver Dark Mofo and give the gift of the festival to the state,” he said.
The state government is investing a total of $21.6 million to support the event through to 2027, a jump from the previous figure of $2.5 million a year to $7.2 million.
Events Minister Nick Duigan said the increased investment shows how “serious” they are about events.
“It has a 10-year track record of attracting a great deal of visitation to Tasmania,” he said.
“This is a great event. This is a world-class event. It is renowned and we make no apology for standing strongly behind this event because we know what it does for the Tasmanian economy through the quiet times of the winter.”
“This announcement secures the future of Dark Mofo until 2027 and that gives the events some surety going forward.”
“It also gives us, obviously, the opportunity for more data to understand whether that money delivers the returns that we expect it to.”
“We are very confident of the outcome that we expect.”
