This chapter analyses how Arts Council Norway (ACN) has acted as a policymaking engineer in the field of music in Norway in the period 1965-2015. During its 50-year period of existence, the council has through funding and planning contributed to establishing the Norwegian arts field as we know it today, supporting a wide range of projects, artists, institutions and activities. Hylland and Stavrum analyse this history and the role of the ACN in it as a kind of aesthetical construction work or engineering process, involving both political and aesthetical dimensions. In the chapter, the authors explore the continuity, development and music involved in the ambitious task of constructing a musical nation through cultural policy.
