LAUNCESTON, TAS

We’ve seen, via Hobart and the ‘Mona effect’ (see also Bilbao and its Guggenheim museum), the power that creativity has to transform a city in the culture stakes and beyond. With Mona’s summer festival MONA FOMA (or Mofo) planning to relocate its entire operation to Launceston in 2019, is Tasmania’s second-largest city next? “With the current Hobart-centric boom of Tasmania nationally and internationally there’s a sense that the north of the state is missing out,” says Brian Ritchie, curator of Mofo (and bass player for the Violent Femmes). “That’s not really true,” he continues. “There are many great events and organisations in the north, such as Junction Arts Festival, Big hART and The Unconformity. We hope to add to that in our own inimitable style.” Events held in Launnie during 2018’s January festival included Bloc Party (pictured), “an inclusive mess of onesie-clad partying,” says Brian. “We hope that vibe will become infectious and MONA FOMA in Launceston becomes a destination for locals, people in other parts of Tassie and interlopers from the so-called mainland and further afield.”