Mofo dark days back

A SHORTER and “more intense” Dark Mofo will be held from June 16 to 22.

But festival organisers say they are cutting ties with all old sponsorship deals because they were “slowly killing” the festival.

DARK Mofo will be free to return to its gloriously dark and subversive best this year as its organisers break from the sponsorship deals they say were “slowly killing” the festival.

After a year of uncertainty, Mona owner David Walsh confirmed a shorter, “more intense” festival would go ahead, from June 16 to 22.

“Dark’s back, which, in the immortal words of Mark Spitz, who was also making a comeback, ‘could be good, could be great, could be terrible’,” Mr Walsh, the festival’s chief financier, said. “Mark didn’t mention that there is another possibility – it could be cancelled. But it wouldn’t be worth doing if there was no risk. There’s lots of risk, so it must really be worth doing.”

While not giving away any details, Dark Mofo’s creative director Leigh Carmichael said the COVID experience, which led to last year’s event being cancelled, was impacting heavily on the artistic program.

“Our patrons will be pleased to know they can expect a typically grim and gloomy affair in June,” he said. “Like everyone else, we’ve been soul searching for almost a year, trying to understand our place in a changed world. Last year we lost our sense of purpose overnight.”

The festival, which is cofunded by the Tasmanian government and received a $1m COVID boost from the federal government, has cut ties with all sponsors.

The sponsorship deals were worth about $500,000 per festival, but were slowly killing it, Mr Carmichael said.

“We felt they were having a detrimental effect on the festival,” he said. “While we’ve appreciated the support from many high-profile brands, we want to be able to pursue our own cultural agenda free from restraint and with a renewed commitment to the art.”

The decision may seem gutsy, given Dark Mofo has also lost the financial backing of the Hobart City Council, but it could help the annual event retain an edge on competitor winter festivals now popping up interstate.

This year marks the final year of a five-year funding agreement with the state government and Mr Carmichael said Dark Mofo’s future was “not clear or guaranteed”.

The full Dark Mofo program will be announced in April.