Tasmanian Winter Festivals
Tasmanian winter is a crucible of festival creativity – Dark Mofo, Festival of Voices and The Winter Feast are a few which thousands travel to explore, divulge and consume. Tasmania welcomes the outsider but it does book out fast.
DARK MOFO
This provocative midwinter festival was created by the Museum of Old and New Art (MONA) and began in 2013. Celebrating dark and ancient pagan rituals, attendees will revel in extreme merry-making and create memories that will last a lifetime. Everywhere you turn in Hobart (and beyond), there is music, art, food, and film that explore the links between ancient and modern mythology, dark and light, birth and death.
Gaining in popularity every year, nearly half a million attendees from around the globe come to celebrate this much anticipated annual event. Visiting artists and musicians share their talent in museums and on stage, stretching imaginations and dropping jaws with their artistic expression. As a festival that values independent thinking, Hobart becomes a virtual playground for the fun-loving, yet twisted fantasies of residents and visitors alike.
THE HUON VALLEY MID-WINTER FEST
For most of the year, the Huon Valley makes for one of the best sights in Tasmania: beautiful countryside, fresh and flourishing apple orchards, and soft charms just a half hour from the island state’s capital, Hobart. Winter is an especially splendid time to be in Tasmania, and there’s no event to better brighten your winter than the annual Huon Valley Mid-Winter Festival.
FESTIVAL OF VOICES
The Tasmania Festival of Voices (FoV) is an annual celebration of the power of song. The FoV attracts an audience of around 30,000 over a two-week period. The festivities, including live performances, workshops, and singalongs, light up the island as thousands revel in a cosy atmosphere that’s the perfect antidote to mid-winter.
The festival starts with the Opening Night Gala at Tasmanian Bushland Garden in Buckland, and runs until the Finale Concert at Federation Concert Hall in Hobart. Between the opening and closing extravaganzas, there’s plenty to get excited about. It’s the hottest ticket in the Southern Hemisphere each winter — see you there!
