Flip This Abandoned Warehouse

More and more Chinese artists are bypassing established promotional entities and setting up their own performance spaces in derelict industrial properties in the Beijing vicinity, according to China Daily.

One example is The One, a two-floor live music venue installed in a factory built in 1957. A jazz musician named Long Long found the building through the city’s transportation department and hired fellow musician and architect Percy Laws to help him remodel it, not only as a live venue but also as a recording studio.

The live space holds about 500 people.

Another new venue to emerge from the former industrial district is Dream Park, which opened last year. Located in a special arts urban renewal district called the Caochangdi Art Village, Dream Park is made up of 7,000 square meters of dining rooms, meeting rooms, art galleries and a theater for dramatic productions.

The local and national government has shown enthusiastic support for these redevelopment projects with subsidies.

The Chaoyang District government has been planning to develop the area called Gaobeidian into a huge cultural and creative enterprise zone. Already 10 “creative industry” projects have been started with an investment of more than $220 million.