Tasmania’s Dark Mofo festival announces 2021 dates

Organisers have said that the festival's future beyond 2021 "isn’t clear or guaranteed"

Tasmanian festival Dark Mofo has revealed when its 2021 iteration will be going ahead, following the event’s cancellation last year due to coronavirus.

Taking place over the course of a week, Dark Mofo will go down in Hobart from Wednesday June 16 to Tuesday June 22. The program for the event will be announced in early April.

Leigh Carmichael, the festival’s creative director, said that those behind the event announce these dates with “trepidation”.

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“Like everyone else, we’ve been soul searching for almost a year, trying to understand our place in a changed world,” Carmichael said in a press statement.

“Last year we lost our sense of purpose overnight, and it appears that experience is having a resounding impact on this year’s festival program. Our patrons will be pleased to know they can expect a typically grim and gloomy affair in June.”

Carmichael further explained that there will be no sponsorship activations for Dark Mofo 2021, in an effort to “to be able to pursue our own cultural agenda free from restraint and with a renewed commitment to the art”.

Additionally, he revealed that this will be the final year of Dark Mofo’s five-year agreement with the Tasmanian Government.

“Dark Mofo’s future beyond this event isn’t clear or guaranteed,” he said.

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“The Hobart City Council have withdrawn financial support and this will impact the scope and scale of the Winter Feast, which will be reduced to five nights.

“While our future is a little uncertain, we are optimistic that there is enough gunpowder in the barrel to propel us into 2022.”

Before its cancellation, Dark Mofo’s 2020 event had planned a lineup headlined by Bon Iver. To commemorate the cancellation, the event released merch with what would’ve been the full 2020 lineup – except each name was crossed out.

While it was difficult to decipher, some names that were just legible include Angel Olsen, 100 gecs, ARCA, Midnight Oil, Moses Sumney as well as the late SOPHIE.

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