This paper presents a case study of three glass art studios situated in the southwest of Western Australia. The study is designed to provide a model for a larger study of the arts industries that will contribute to a strategic analysis of cultural policies for arts industry development. Its purpose is to offer insights into why arts policy frameworks and arts development strategies in the southwest of Western Australia appear to have had limited outcomes consistent with their arts industry objectives. It proposes that one of the reasons — difficult to formalise in policy documents but a persistent theme in informal discussions I have had with arts practitioners all over the southwest region — is a conceptual problem related to instrumentalities charged with the responsibility of implementing arts policy and development. I propose that this is a ‘problem of culture ‘. I explore this proposition in relation to cultural policy planning and development at the regional level within a wider framework at the state and federal levels in Australia and internationally.
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