Dark Mofo festival to make full comeback in 2025
The Dark Mofo festival in Hobart will return in 2025 from June 5-15. Photo: AAP
Hobart winter festival Dark Mofo will make a full return in 2025 with organisers promising an “inspiring” art and music program.
The event ran a reduced offering this winter amid financial headwinds and a desire to set the foundations for a further decade.
Artistic director Chris Twite on Friday announced the festival would return for a full two weeks from June 5-15.
The annual nude winter solstice swim, which was still held in 2024, will take place on June 21.
“Dark Mofo is back. For our 11th chapter, once more we’ll bathe the city in red and deliver two weeks of inspiring art, music and ritual,” Twite said.
The full festival program will be announced in 2025 but organisers will put Night Mass pre-sale tickets up for grabs on November 5.
“Night Mass is a beast … (it) will evolve once more; worming its way through the city with new spaces, performances and experiences to dance, explore or crawl your way through,” Twite said.
Tasmania’s Liberal government has increased its financial contribution to $21.6 million to the end of 2027.
The government had previously agreed to spend $7.5 million over three years to help prop up the festival.
“An iconic Tasmanian event, Dark Mofo is recognised as a world-class winter festival,” Events Minister Nick Duigan said.
“The festival drives significant interstate and international visitation to Tasmania during our off-season.
“From 2013 to 2023 [it] attracted more than 300,000 unique visitors to Tasmania.
“It also delivers a strong return on investment to the state, significantly boosting the tourism and the hospitality sectors in the quieter winter months.”
The winter feast and ceremonial Ogoh-Ogoh burning will feature in 2025.
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 work asking Indigenous people to contribute blood after backlash labelling the piece insensitive and disrespectful.
-AAP