Like the label of “European Capital of Culture”, many European cities are trying to revitalize their territory by means of the creation or transfer of cultural facilities. The past two decades have thus witnessed an extraordinary increase in new museum projects, often initiated jointly by political and cultural decision makers. The question then arises of anchoring them in a sectoral system of cultural innovation, targeting conceptual as much as organizational innovations. This article will put forward an analysis of the establishment of the Centre Pompidou-Metz, demonstrating the importance of the formation and institutionalization of a field of strategic action around the project, producing at the same time a favourable institutional framework and linking the actors with different interests around common issues. According to the hypothesis put forth, future success and economic spin-offs will depend to a large extent on the state, the evolution, and the scope of this field.