Dark Mofo festival cancelled for 2024: Hobart event will return 2025

Popular Hobart winter festival Dark Mofo will be put on hold next year as organizers focus on a shift to a more sustainable event amid rising costs.

They want the festival to return in full in 2025 and ‘lay the foundation for the next 10 years’.

The winter festival and nude solstice swimming will still go ahead in 2024 as part of an agreement with the Tasmanian government.

The festival says that despite record attendance and box office sales this year, it must “take stock of changing conditions and rising costs” and readjust for the future.

Dark Mofo artistic director Chris Twite said it had been a difficult decision.

“It is not something we started lightly, but it is what we have decided to do to secure the future of the festival,” he told reporters on Friday.

More than 400,000 people flocked to the 2023 Dark Mofo, which featured 400 artists at 65 events in 35 locations.

Some performances had to be rescheduled after record-breaking early ticket sales, which generated $5.5 million for the festival box office.

Twite said the state government had been proactive in offering solutions to allow the festival to go ahead in 2024.

More than 400,000 people flocked to the 2023 Dark Mofo, which featured 400 artists at 65 events in 35 locations

“We are grateful for the support and assistance the state government has shown in response to our need to reshape for the future,” Twite said.

‘Dark Mofo has always been committed to enriching and transforming lives through ambitious art and ideas.

“We want to make sure we have a festival that continues to deliver incredible art and artists.”

The state government announced a three-year deal in September 2021 that would net the festival $7.5 million.

Tasmanian Premier Jeremy Rockliff said the government would work closely with organizers on plans for a 2025 return.

The Museum of Old and New Art wants to open a major new exhibition in the winter next year.

Dark Mofo has often courted controversy, including in 2018 when inverted Christian crosses were installed along Hobart’s waterfront.

In 2021, it was forced to pull the pin on the work asking indigenous people to contribute blood after the piece was labeled insensitive and disrespectful.

Twite replaces Leigh Carmichael, who stepped down as artistic director after this year’s festival had served in the role since its inaugural event in 2013.

The winter festival and nude solstice swimming will still go ahead in 2024 as part of an agreement with the Tasmanian government