MONA ditches ‘offensive’ title to unveil plans for new Motown hotel

Tasmania's Museum of Old and New Art (MONA) has unveiled the plans for its much-anticipated hotel, with a new brand name because the previous one had "offended a few people".

The planned five-star hotel is now known as 'Motown', rather than its previous title of 'HoMo', with MONA founder David Walsh explaining that the former title, which was meant to be "celebratory", had been misinterpreted and caused offence.

As explained on the MONA website 'Motown' is a tentative title for the project.

Walsh told the ABC “originally it was going to be HoMo (Hotel MONA); after consultation with the MONA staff force, and with the community beyond, we decided to ditch it.

"It turned out that I didn't really have the right to call something HoMo when I'm not gay, and it offended a few people because I guess I was being culturally insensitive.

"The people that didn't like it, really didn't like it, and that matters to me."

Walsh explained that the HoMo name was meant to be "celebratory", advising “we hoped the name would keep the homophobes at bay (but) it was decided that it wasn't (our) joke to make."

The $400 million development will include a 172 room hotel along with a theatre, spa centre, outdoor concert stage, library, conference and auditorium facilities.

Walsh said he saw libraries as very important spaces and wants to "do to libraries what I did to museums", adding “we're calling it a library, but I don't think it's a library.

"I want to build something that's a lot more performative, a lot more entertaining, a lot more of a creative space."

With a development application officially submitted to Glenorchy Council, the hotel is slated to open in 2024.

However, funding for the project is yet to be finalised.

A community consultation session on the proposal is being held on 17th December..

Images: Artists' impressions of MONA's hotel development sticking out over the water (top), the attraction's planned outdoor space (middle) and  its convention centre (below). Images courtesy of MONA.