This report focuses on the change that has taken place in the relationship between the state and the cultural industry in Sweden. From the beginning of the 20th Century, when film and popular music (jazz and later rock´n roll) were introduced in Sweden, to the 1990´s the relationship between state and cultural industries has been one of distrust. Popular film and music were seen as having a damaging effect on society. Today, cultural industy is seen as a salvation for the society. Regions and local communities see it as an important industry for growth and welfare. My aim is to study this new trend by using an empirical example of the growth of a Swedish regional resource- and production centre called Film in West. It is a joint-stock company owned by the regional council, established in 1992. Today it has become a powerful actor in national film politics and about half of the total numbers of feature films produced in Sweden during the last ten years were produced in co-operation with Film in West. The object is to explore the political processes behind the regionalisation of film production in Sweden since the early 1990s and forward. What can explain the transfer of power from central government and film production companies to regionally based institutions? The theoretical thesis is that ideas are important for change and create new forms of institution such as Film in West. Ideas can function as a mental map, or common framework of meaning. When policy entrepreneurs introduced the idea to see film as an instrument for regional and local development and economic growth and not as art policy, regionalisation become possible.