The government's commitment to promoting creative talents in Hong Kong seems to have fizzled out since the building of the Academy of Performing Arts in 1984.

While major cities on the mainland, particularly Shanghai, has provided subsidized premises in special districts to designers, artists and performers, the Hong Kong government, together with property developers, are busy wiping out old neighborhoods to make room for mega malls and luxury hotels. For that reason, it was particularly heartening to read that a group of well-to-do individuals, including several film stars and movie directors, has come forward to fund a project that aims to convert the former married police quarters on Hollywood Road in central into an enclave for budding creative talents.

The project was initiated by the Hong Kong Institute of Contemporary Culture, a privately funded non-profit organization. The institute, established by a group of artists and educators, organizes regular classes to encourage creativity and various programs to promote culture in Hong Kong.

The institute's director Woo Yan-wai was quoted as saying that his organization receives no corporate backing. What it has is a group of people with "proven track records and passion," he said.

Its plan is to become the "anchor" tenant of the old police quarters while renting out the remaining portion of the premises to companies or individuals engaged in creative business, such as design studios. Some 40 percent of the floor area in the buildings will have cafes, restaurants, shops and exhibition space.

The idea is similar to the preservation and renovation of the historic slaughter house in downtown Shanghai. The slaughter house, built in the 1930s, together with some of the old structures in the compound, have been converted into an arts and entertainment enclave, with a list of tenants including design houses, restaurants, bars and galleries. There are several other small communities in Shanghai where fledgling design studios and aspiring artists can ply their trade without having to worry too much about the escalating rents in the city.

In Beijing, there is an old factory compound, an area of several city blocks that have been made available to galleries, bookstores and design studios at rents they can afford. The area has now become a major attraction for locals as well as visitors.

Hong Kong's Hollywood Road has always been known as a street boasting many antique shops. There are a few modern art galleries opening at one end of the road closest to the financial district. But it is not the street where one would want to spend a Sunday afternoon for a cultural experience. The road is narrow and the traffic is always heavy. What's more, those antique shops aren't too hospitable to curious browsers.

The typical tea houses on the street, with their Formica-top tables and plywood chairs, cater mainly to customers on the go. There is no space for any street-side cafes and the few restaurants in that rundown neighborhood are priced to suit the budgets of the less-well-to-do people.

Converting the police quarters on that road to a creative enclave can at least inject new life into Hollywood Road and revitalize the entire district without the excess of commercialization like what we see at nearby Lan Kai Fong or Soho. The government should study the ideas presented by the Institute and other organizations and draw up a master plan on the future use of the police quarters.

The author is a staff writer.

(HK Edition 09/03/2010 page4)