Another one bites the dust: Mona Foma cancelled in further blow for live music

Mona Foma, one of Tasmania’s largest contemporary music and arts festivals, has come to an end after 16 years.

The summer festival, which was established by the Museum of Old and New Art (Mona) in 2008, and led by artistic director and Violent Femmes bassist Brian Ritchie, has featured major names including Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds and Bikini Kill, as well as a wide array of eclectic performances and art installations.

Mona founder David Walsh described the festival as magical but said the “spell had worn off”.

The Mona Foma festival has been permanently cancelled just a month after its most recent event.Credit: Mona/Jesse Hunniford

“Mona Foma took us around the world. But it ends here. Maybe the end started at COVID. Maybe it’s because the last festival was a poorly attended artistic triumph. But those aren’t the reasons I killed it,” Walsh said in a statement released on Friday afternoon.

“I know that we live for experience but, more and more, I seek permanence, a symbolic immortality. At Mona, I’m building this big thing, hopefully it’ll be a good thing, but it’s a costly thing. I’m addicted to building, and my addiction got out of hand. Some things have to go before I’m too far gone.”

Mona Foma has been taking place in Tasmania since 2009.

The permanent cancellation comes just a month after this year’s Mona Foma, which took place over three weekends in Hobart and Launceston, and featured a series of events ranging from a concert by Queens of the Stone Age, and mini-festivals on Mona’s lawns featuring artists including Mogwai and Shonen Knife, to more experimental performances by artists like Yahon Chang, who created a warehouse-sized artwork in front of onlookers for 1½ hours.

In September last year, Mona’s other popular music and arts festival, Dark Mofo – which usually takes place during the winter months – announced it would not go ahead in 2024, with organisers citing the need to take stock of changing conditions and rising costs. Its 2023 event marked its 10-year anniversary.

Notably, the Winter Feast and Nude Solstice Swim – two of the festival’s biggest tourist drawcards – will still take place this year.

The pin has been pulled on a number of other Australian cultural festivals in the past 18 months, including Falls Festival, Groovin the Moo, Splendour in the Grass and the National Young Writers’ Festival. The list continues to grow, as supplier costs surge, ticket sales dwindle, extreme weather worsens and organisational funding for creative events wanes.

THAW in 2022 was among Mona Foma’s more unusual and spectacular performances Credit:

Throughout its 16-year run, Mona Foma became a sensory-overload jamboree, exposing audiences to things like the Tasmanian Queer Woodchop Championships and Canadian electroclash artist Peaches performing inside a giant inflatable phallus.

Before signing the festival off for good, Walsh expressed gratitude to all those who attended over time. “And to those who didn’t, a silver lining: you’ll no longer suffer from FOMO for FOMA. And anyway, repetition is regimentation. And regimentation is ridiculous.”

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