Hong Kong government to host street performances

The government is drafting a plan to make open spaces, such as the plaza outside the Cultural Centre in Tsim Sha Tsui, designated areas for so-called "street performance."

We say "so-called" because artists who wish to perform in those area will have to audition for it. This pilot scheme is tentatively called "Open Stage" and is aimed at cultivating public interest in the performing arts. Artists will have to be vetted by a panel of arts experts and government officials, and the performance area will be well away from residential areas.

Rather than democratize the use of public space for performance, this plan sounds like the authorities will impose control over the who, what, where, and why of street performance in Hong Kong.

Banky Yeung Pink-kei, artistic director of FM Theatre Power, a group that regularly performs on Sai Yeung Choi Street in Mongkok, said he is also worried that after the launch of the scheme, there would be more control over the street performances happening in places outside of government designated areas. 

"I might want to stay in Causeway Bay or Mongkok [outside of government designated areas]," Yeung said to the SCMP.

"You have to give a reason to attract artists to perform in those [government designated] areas. These spaces are open spaces, which are quite different from the streets. The nature of performing in these open spaces could be quite different from performing in an actual street, where you can really interact with the public passing by."

Yeung hopes the authorities will enter into discussion with actual street performers before they launch the scheme, tentatively scheduled for this summer.