Plans to gentrify Kwun Tong threaten its music and arts scene

It's a Saturday evening on Kwun Tong promenade, formerly known as the public cargo working area. Under the flyover stretching alongside it, children are dancing to electro music being played by a DJ. This is the Forgotten Dreams Carnival, an arts and music event originally planned for last year. Licensing hurdles forced organiser Paul Yip, of the Feel Music Experimental Lab, to postpone the event to earlier this year, holding it in Kwun Tong instead of To Kwa Wan.

As Yip sees it, their initial setback eventually worked for them. The location made it convenient for bands to transport their gear since most had rehearsal rooms in Kwun Tong's many industrial buildings. Best of all, they were able to stage the carnival as a guerilla event, avoiding interminable red tape, including the need to apply for a temporary public entertainment licence.

But when a henna artist tries to move her booth to the promenade for better lighting, staff from Leisure and Cultural Services Department turn her back.

The line that apparently separates the promenade and flyover defines the absurdity of staging outdoor cultural activities in Asia's self-proclaimed World City. And it reflects just a small fraction of the frustrations that the cultural community in Kwun Tong faces.

Previously known as a zone for light industry, Kwun Tong has grown to encompass an informal arts and music "village" as performers and designers of various stripes have taken up residence in disused factory space. An estimated 600 to 700 bands rent premises in the area, along with design collectives, art studios and galleries.

The spectre of rising rents is a given in Hong Kong, but of late it's casting an even darker shadow for groups in Kwun Tong.

Yip, a long-time resident of the area, has seen steep rises in rentals driven by government plans to turn Kowloon East, comprising Kai Tak, Kwun Tong and Kowloon Bay, into a "premier" commercial district.