Alberta's first arts legislation, the Cultural Development Act, was passed in 1946. It was followed by numerous policy initiatives to support the arts, including creation of facilities for training of artists, development of agencies and agreements to deal with arts funding, enactment of regulations to guide arts institutions, and creation of various Departmental structures depending on organizational location of this policy sector. The thesis examines the historical evolution of performing arts policy in Alberta from 1905 to 1997 to identify government activities, shifts in policy-making, and methods of implementation. The study utilizes Paul Sabatier's advocacy coalition approach, which treats public policy as determined by the dynamics of the advocacy coalition within a policy sector and the manner in which external factors and system parameters steer policy development. This study concludes that Alberta performing arts policy has largely developed within the context of meta public policies emphasizing economic development and provincial statebuilding. / iii, 97 leaves : ill. ; 28 cm.