Street performers evicted from Mong Kok and Times Square are ‘welcome’ at West Kowloon Cultural District’s Freespace – as long as they are good
District authority’s chief executive Duncan Pescod says major new arts centre will open in April and be ‘the place to be’ for licensed performers
A key part of Hong Kong’s major new arts centre is set to open next April, and street performers will be welcome “everywhere” – as long as they are any good.
Freespace, in the centre of the West Kowloon Cultural District’s art park, which has been opening in phases since earlier this year, is described as a place where the public can see innovative work across all genres.
The building includes a live music venue and a black-box theatre that can seat up to 450 people or accommodate 900 standing, the West Kowloon Cultural District Authority said.
The authority said street artists would be able to perform around the venue, after getting a licence. The licences will cost HK$100 (US$13) per year and performers will have to audition to get one. More than 400 people have already registered with the scheme, and play at different parts of the district.
“I tell you, in the future, this is going to be the place to be,” said the authority’s chief executive Duncan Pescod.
The city’s street artists have of late struggled for places to perform, after the Mong Kok pedestrian zone – a 500-metre stretch of Sai Yeung Choi Street South – was shut down in July, because of complaints over noise and obstruction.