Hosting the region's largest urban population, Halifax, Nova Scotia is an important cultural centre in Atlantic Canada. Halifax is home to a vibrant arts and culture community that enjoys considerable support and participation from the general population. As the largest community and the administrative centre of the Atlantic region since its founding in 1749, Halifax has long-standing tradition of being a cultural generator. While provincial arts and culture policies have tended to distribute investment and support of the arts throughout the province, sometimes to the detriment of more populous Halifax, cultural production in the region is increasingly being recognized for its economic benefits, as well as its purely cultural aspects. The Halifax Regional Municipality is in the process of drafting a Cultural Plan to guide the municipality's arts and culture development. While Halifax is not as multiculturally diverse as its larger Canadian counterparts, this is slowly evolving, particularly as the municipality and province place more emphasis on attracting immigrants. Muslims comprise the second-largest visible minority in Halifax, while the largest visible minority – the historic African Nova Scotian community – as well as the more recently established Greek and Lebanese communities provide important influences for local culture. The city benefits from a large population of post-secondary students, including a significant proportion of national and international students, who strongly influence the local cultural scene. Performing arts Halifax has been the home to live music and theatrical productions virtually since its founding. Writer-historian Thomas H. Raddall wrote that by the 1780s there were no less than two theatres, the "old" Grand Theatre on Argyle Street and the "new" Grand Theatre on Grafton Street. "The plays were mostly farces of the sort popular in London at the time…" (note Raddall). From 1876 until its demolition in 1929, plays, concerts and even operas were performed at the Academy of Music building near the corner of Barrington Street at Spring Garden Road. Reflecting the change in popular taste, the Academy building was torn down to make way for the Capitol Theatre, a movie house. The old-style cinema was itself subject to obsolescence, and in the 1970s demolished to make way for an office building (the Maritime Centre). Theatre Halifax is home to a number of theatre groups, the most prominent being the Neptune Theatre. Though Neptune was founded in 1963, live theatre had been performed on the present site since 1915 when it was reputed