'The spell had worn off': Walsh calls time on Mona Foma festival

The summer event - first held in 2009 - brought odd-ball art installations and major headliners to the Island State during its tenure, like Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds, Gotye and most recently TISM.

Mostly held in Hobart - though with a few events in Launceston, particularly during a three-year stint from 2018 when the festival set up a home-base in the North - the festival became somewhat of a cultural fixture in the state's event calendar.

Foma was the combined work of its artistic director, Brian Ritchie, the Violent Femmes' founding bassist, and Mona founder, art collector and professional gambler David Walsh.

Walsh announced the end of the festival on Friday, saying that last festival's poor attendance wasn't why he had "killed" Foma off, it was simply because the "spell had worn off."

"Mona Foma took us around the world. But it ends here," Walsh said.

"Only these words, from Kurt Vonnegut's Cat's Cradle, remain: 'Live by the Foma that makes you brave and kind and healthy and happy'."

"Gratitude to all of you that came. 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."

The cancellation comes on the back of Mona's other music and arts festival, the winter-themed Dark Mofo, being pared back almost to cancellation for 2024 amid rising costs - though organisers expect it to make a "full return" in 2025.

Mona Foma is the latest cultural festival to fall by the wayside in the country, joining others like Groovin' the Moo and Splendour in the Grass in calling time on the festivities.

And Walsh hinted at rising costs, too, saying that his decision was partially affected by expenditure and expansion of his Hobart museum, which is currently undergoing construction efforts to build a new wing and "money intensive" dream library for Walsh, housing "many treasures".

"At Mona, I'm building this big thing, hopefully it'll be a good thing, but it's a costly thing," Walsh said.

"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 is one of those things."

Walsh has expanded the site on multiple occasions - recently with the addition of a "Pharos wing", which cost Walsh approximately $32 million according to The Art Newspaper.

In signing off on the final Mona Foma, Walsh said he was grateful to those who attended, and to those who "helped put it together".

"I hope it was as good for you as it was for me," he said.