The cultural king of Tasmania is no doubt David Walsh, the visionary behind Hobart’s famed art museum and accompanying festivals. It seems that there is no stopping David’s plans for continuing to grow the state’s offerings, with news that he will be adding hotelier to his resume. Specifically, the creator of the Museum of Old and New Art in Tasmania will be adding a hotel.

David’s plans to boost Tassie tourism show no signs of showing down, with the entrepreneur revealing to media today that his new hotel will accommodate the 74% of the museum’s annual visitors that travel from interstate to view the creative space. Titled Hotel at Mona (or HOMO for short), the new hotel will house 172 rooms, a spa, library, stage, and a theatre. The proposed five-star hotel is expected to be constructed over three years, and will sit atop the current Mona site, overlooking the River Derwent.

“It’s very simple really. We like building stuff. So far it has gone pretty well for us, and hopefully also for our communities,” David commented. “The heart of MONA is chance.”

A casino for non-Tasmanians (titled the Anti-Casino) is also expected to be apart of the new construction. The private, members-only, high-limits, poker machine-free facility is being designed to act as an outlet for art and design, as well as help fund David’s ongoing ideas for the community.

The Mona founder also took the opportunity to announce that the summer version of Dark Mofo – Mona Foma – will be moving north to Launceston. The festival was founded in 2009 with friend Violent Femmes frontman Brian Ritchie. 

“Mona Foma’s philosophy has always been to bring variety and depth of contemporary traditional arts practices to the general public. The festival’s original 10 year plan – to change the culture in Hobart – has come to fruition ahead of schedule,” says David.

“We’d like to embark upon a new creative journey – to relocate to Launceston in search of new challenges, new collaborations, fresh partnerships and novel creative models. We want to make it bigger, better, more creative, more diverse and more famous – and by famous, we mean infamous,” he continues.