Winter festival Dark Mofo looks to 2020 as it chases major role in international arts scene

AN artist-designed Qantas jet and a P&O cruise are among the innovations the Dark Mofo festival hopes to introduce.

supplied Dark MOFO

AN artist-designed Qantas jet and a P&O cruise are among the innovations the Dark Mofo festival hopes to introduce as it grows into a $65 million boost to the state’s economy within five years.

Dark Mofo curator Leigh Carmichael at the Peacock Theatre in Salamanca. Picture: SAM ROSEWARNE

The specially painted plane and a voyage from Sydney to Hobart are being considered as part of the award-winning winter festival’s vision to 2020.

The plan includes total attendances of half a million and 560 mostly Tasmanian fulltime jobs, building on Dark Mofo’s $46 million contribution to the state economy last year.

“The vision for the festival is to become a major player on the international arts scene,” creative director Leigh Carmichael told the Sunday Tasmanian.

“It’s to go from being one of the great Australian festivals to becoming one of the great international winter destination festivals.”

Ideas for the jet included one loosely based on Playboy founder Hugh Hefner’s infamous Big Bunny, but a branded jet is likely to carry a less controversial design as part of the airline’s sponsorship deal.

A P&O vessel could sail from Sydney next year, adding 2000 bodies and a rare midwinter cruise-liner visit, after company representatives attended last year’s event.

“They can see what’s on offer here is unlike anything else currently in their portfolio,” Mr Carmichael said.

“To see cruise ships down here in the middle of winter — how bizarre.”

Dark Mofo notched 280,000 attendances in 2015 and 8000 visitors from interstate and overseas.

The visitor number could swell to 20,000 in five years, according to Mr Carmichael, whose festival last week secured a doubling of State Government funding — $2.1 million — for its 2016 edition in June.

More innovations are on the cards, including an expansion of Macquarie Point’s Dark Park, the unveiling of a proposed Art Tower in 2018 and a major winter exhibition for TMAG to rival Melbourne’s Winter Masterpieces.

“We’d like to see something similar happening at TMAG,” Mr Carmichael said. “They’ve just spent all the money on the renovations and the upgrade — now they have to activate it with cultural activity and we see a major winter exhibition at TMAG as crucial.”

Some changes will be seen as early as this year, with the price of the Winter Feast to be halved to $10 and a free finale on its final night.

A regional project is being proposed for the Derwent Valley and a change from the festival’s signature large-scale light shows could also be on the cards.

“We’ve got fire and lasers. There’s lots of options in that space,” Mr Carmichael said. “We can certainly promise large scale outdoor public art in public spaces right through the city.”

The vision is contained in Dark Mofo’s official pitch to the State Government, which funded the first three festivals to the tune of $1 million a year. The event created 400 jobs and generated publicity for the state worth more than $60 million in 2015, the document says.

Both parties say they are working towards a longer-term funding arrangement, with Mona founder David Walsh currently kicking in more than $1 million in cash to keep each festival afloat.

The museum’s contribution hit $3.5 million last year, about half of total expenditure. Around $1.5m is spent locally on production and $250,000 on Tasmanian arts organisations. But that budget, expected to grow to $10 million by 2020, is only around half that spent by similar festivals interstate. To help overcome the disadvantage, international exposure on sponsor Red Bull’s new TV station is being progressed.

Partnering with like-minded events in Berlin and Johannesburg is being explored, and the Edinburgh Festival’s branding is being used as a model. “It’s one of those festivals that everyone tries to get to once in their life — we want Dark Mofo to be that as well,” Mr Carmichael said.

Unlike its sister, Mona Foma, Dark Mofo will remain based in the Hobart CBD.

Mr Carmichael, who this month celebrated a Sidney Myer Performing Arts Award, said the city needed to grab the opportunity while it lasted.

“The art world moves pretty quickly — you get hot spots like New York in the ’60s, they only last for five or 10 years,” he said.

“Mona’s now five years old.

“I don’t think anyone really knows — are we half way through our time to shine, are we coming towards the end of it or are we just beginning?”

Originally published as Winter festival Dark Mofo looks to 2020 as it chases major role in international arts scene