It was a huge weekend in Launceston as Mona Foma spread across the city. The north was a buzz with lasers, puppets, artists, and the sounds of crowds out and about, enjoying the state's first major festival since the pandemic.
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Sunday Madness
The last day of the festival saw crowds still continue to attend the regular events such as Aqua Luma and MoFo Sessions at Royal Park, but also some of the other works such as Instrument Builders Project 5 and Free For All.
Free For All, from the Launceston Improvised Music Association, brought together anyone who was keen to jam.
People, however beginner or expert they were, put their name in a hat and were drawn at random to play together.
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Spike Mason, facilitator of love and fun at the event said the room was completely packed with people eager to have a go.
"This festival is just so incredible. It's so open, it's so diverse," he said.
"It has so many different ideas and things going on all the time so it's great to be able to offer that to a selection of people who may not be on the official program but they get to be participants."
Sunday also saw the third day of the Instrument Builders Project 5, in which four artists - Richie Cyngler, Julia Drouhin, Dylan Sheridan and Pip Stafford - collaborated to construct an instrument together and then play it.
Edie Burns, 13 and of Invermay, said the work was very creative and interesting.
"I loved the different experimental sounds," she said.
"They created an interesting soundscape."
One of the curators of the piece, Lisa Campbell-Smith said having the project at the gallery drew quite a diverse audience.
"I think because in the past it's been very much a stand alone work, to be in a festival format is a completely different engagement," she said.
First weekend wrap
Mona Foma curator Brian Ritchie said thanks to good planning and a great team, they had a very successful festival.
"The numbers were good and we intentionally kept the numbers down [for COVID-19 safety]," he said.
"We had a lot more venues but the feedback I'm getting is that the experiences have been really satisfying regardless of the crowd size."
Ritchie said the event sold a lot of interstate tickets to begin with, and although some were returned due to restrictions, they were then picked up by Tasmanians.
It was hoped that spreading the festival across two cities would also help intrastate goals, and Mr Ritchie said they had seen people travel up from the south to visit.
"It will actually be worthwhile for the Launceston people to go down to Hobart and check it out because it will be a whole range of new things to do and see," he said.
"It's been swell to be up here as always.
"The warmth from the community here is great."
Mona Foma celebrated its 13th year in 2021 but with that, found itself at the end of its current agreement.
However, Mr Ritchie said all seems positive for the continuation of the the festival in the future.
Mona Foma will continue in Hobart from January 22-24.