This article sheds light on policy enactment in response to political goals of widening participation in Swedish Community Schools of Music and Arts (kul- turskola). The data for this article is based on interviews with five principals from five such schools. The principals’ accounts were interpreted in a discourse psycho- logical framework and six different ways to position themselves as leaders were found: The Trend-spotter, The Progressive Enforcer, Friend of Long-term Learning, The Implementer, The Critic and The Chameleon. The position The Trend-spotter and The Progressive Enforcer are associated with a common tendency to pronounce the schools’ mission to reach new target groups and a focus on new marketing- and teaching methods. The Friend of Long-term Learning and The Critic guard long-term and in-depth learning and sufficient resources to achieve it. The principals’ policy enactment can be described as a balancing act defined by loyalty to local political goals versus loyalty to learning goals. The principals’ positioning in relation to the teachers express loyalty as well as a marked tendency to urge the teachers to renew the teaching methods. Whether the principals position themselves as Implementer or Critic is interpreted as depending on allocated resources. The Chameleon strives to integrate different positions. These positions are discussed relative to widening participation and institutional discourses such as breadth versus depth discourse and management discourse versus a discourse for learning.