Launceston readies for Mona Foma 2019
Media release – Thursday 10 January 2019
The Mona Foma team has moved into the City of Launceston’s Queen Victoria Museum ahead of the Mona Foma 2019 event and all systems are go!
The overtly ostentatious Mona Foma extravaganza will bring a bursting program of arts, music and endless experiences to Launceston over the eight day festival, and it's the Queen Victoria Museum that will be Mona Foma's headquarters for the Museum of Old and New Art’s Northern festival.
The water was tested in January 2018 when Mona Foma organised The Block Party, a mini festival for the local community. 5753 visitors attended the one-day event, which was a raging success.
Bigger and better, Mona Foma 2019 is aimed to attract local, national and international visitors, with event venues spread across the City. The expanse and versatility of the spaces at the Queen Victoria Museum and Inveresk Precinct made it the perfect choice as headquarters for the event.
City of Launceston Mayor Albert van Zetten is expecting the event to once again bring with it huge benefits for the City from an economic perspective:
"Well organised events are a drawcard for attracting visitors to a place and the event last year proved the formula was right. Increasing the number of visitors to Launceston creates opportunity and potential for our Launceston businesses to benefit," Mayor van Zetten said.
"The City of Launceston is committed to supporting and working with organisations and community groups to provide a rich and diverse calendar of events for the community."
"Given the success of The Block Party in January 2018, Mona Foma’s ambition, and the benefits to the community and businesses, the City of Launceston was keen to support MONA and accepted their request for the headquarters to be at the Museum. This is an exciting opportunity for the City and QVMAG."
"The Mona Foma program offers many free events which will take place across the city including events in our wonderful parks and reserves."
While the general public will not be able to access the collections at Inveresk in the usual way from January 18 to 20, we still encourage visitors to experience all the magnificence we have to offer.
You can join the Mona Foma experience and access some of the Museum's collections and exhibitions, or you can drop in to our beautiful Art Gallery in Wellington Street, where it's a case of business as usual with the gallery open daily from 10am to 5pm.
This cool space of 10 galleries offers a visual feast for the eyes, contemplation time and the opportunity to engage with our shared history.
In the lead-up to the event, the staff at the Queen Victoria Museum are taking care to ensure the community's collections are protected during the event.
Details are available at www.qvmag.tas.gov.au/MonaFoma
The festival line-up features: Courtney Barnett (AUS), Mulatu Astatke (ETH), Neneh Cherry (SWE), Oneohtrix Point Never: Myriad (USA), Satu Vänskä + the Tasmanian Symphony Orchestra (AUS) plus many more.
Full program and tickets are available from https://monafoma.net.au/