ABSTRACT
The ambivalent links between creative activity and non-artistic objectives, the lure of being a Cultural Capital continues to exert its magic. Embraced as a panacea by local government as well as a long-neglected arts community, Geelong has sought to become a Cultural Capital since the early 1990s. Local government existed only at the behest of the states, to deliver local services within their limited financial resources. But local government did have a close political connection to their communities, oversaw critical cultural institutions such as libraries and, once they became larger entities in the 1990s, could and did actively intervene in cultural policy. The Elizabethan Theatre Trust epitomises the first phase of what most commentators identify as cultural policy in Australia. The 1960s and 70s thereby became a turning point in cultural policy, with the intervention of the Federal government to create a range of funding and regulatory organizations.
