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This paper addresses the transformations of local cultural governance following the popularisation of the creative city thesis. While the economic impact of the arts in urban settings has been a topic of great interest in recent years and an amply documented theme, little is known about the consequence of such development knowledge and practice on the local cultural policy arena where it takes roots. Moreover, given the popularity and the enthusiasm for such strategies within municipal governments, we have seen a growing tendency to implement the creative city strategy and to formulate cultural policies that follow it in rural and smaller communities which are quite different from the more extensively documented urban and metropolitan cases. Through case studies of three cities in Northern Ontario (Canada), we can identify a number of changes in cultural governance and policy logics. Overall, the creative city narrative appears to be detrimental to typical arts advocacy in smaller communities since it leads to the domestication of the arts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]