After seven intensive days the Dark Meowfo festival 2021 has wrapped up, but not without controversy.
A private performer’s gala dinner held last night saw many kitties letting their fur down after a hectic week. Though, after a civil start the event was soon derailed when reports that catnip residue was found in the bathrooms.
Further reports from insiders at the event confirmed the misconduct and added that a number of cats didn’t get the memo about putting their coats back on after the nude swim.
These reports follow on from contention last week after the installation of an inverted paw rocked more conservative members of the Hobart cat community. Read the full story >>
Public debate still continues as to whether the Dark Meowfo festival was a success. Unfortunately founder, Noel Hunt, was unavailable for comment following reports that many of the kitties were not paid for their performances.
Nonetheless, the festival attracted many visitors to the centre resulting in numerous kitty performers finding their furever homes.
So, what did you miss?
Here is a break down of the festival highlights..
Genevieve’s performance piece entitled ‘stand on the kitchen bench until someone feeds me’ landed mixed reviews with many of the audience leaving early to go home to feed their own cats.
Newcomer to the Dark Meowfo line up was Harvey. Harvey’s captivating performance entitled ‘carpet or lino’ brought up more questions than it answered.
Tickets sold out to Rick’s solo performance entitled ‘I am Rick: a cat yodelling odyssey’.
Enid’s visceral work entitled ‘the loaf’ is still available for installation in your own home. When asked how long she has been a practicing artist she replied, “I’ve been an artist my whole life.” (That’s 5 years)
‘Don’t go; But if you do return with tuna’ was twelve movements for banjo composed and performed by local artist Aztec and accompanied by the Moonah City Meowers cats’ choir.
One thing that critics agreed on was that Luna’s interpretive dance piece “I am cat” was open for interpretation. Luna wowed audiences every day of the Dark Meowfo festival with this performance piece.
A massive hit with the public was the Dark Meowfo merchandise stand with mugs and coasters all sold out.
At just 3 months old it could be said that Gatsby’s prose is well beyond his years. At 2 months he took out the Australian Poetry Slam and has been on a collision course with destiny since. Gatsby gave his audience an intimate afternoon recital of his latest work “Is that chicken? It’s chicken isn’t it..”
Dark Meowfo performances continued with acapella circus trio Amari, Alba, Algaro performing daily. They stunned audiences with their unique choral trapeze act, although one critic stated it went straight over their head.
Talks of a 2022 Dark Meowfo festival have again been met with backlash from Facebook users who just want to see cute kitty photos without annoying red and black backgrounds.
A big thank you to you!
On a serious note, Ten Lives would like to take this opportunity to thank you for being a part of this amazing week at the centre. Our Dark Meowfo campaign has helped draw attention to many of the cats awaiting adoption and also the contribution of our volunteers.
So, where to from here?
Bring your skills to Ten Lives and become a volunteer >>
Check out our current cats and kittens awaiting adoption >>
Support us by making a donation to the centre >>
The Ten Lives Building Project will deliver a world class facility and education programs to support both cats and the community in Tasmania.