If you’re like me (and I’m certain you are), you hate it when newspapers, blogs, or jerks on the street talk or write in the present tense about data that concerns the previous year.

Like this AJC article, “City of Atlanta Continues Rapid Growth“.  From the title you might think, “Wow, even in a recession, Atlanta’s hanging in there!” and then you go about your day, spewing untruths because you were too lazy to read the in-depth 5-sentence blurb.  And that’s too bad because people were finally beginning to respect you.

What’s the problem?

The problem is that the title is referencing census data comparing 2008 to 2007, not 2009 to 2008, and as we all know Lehman Brothers didn’t fail until mid-September 2008, so 2008 isn’t all that clean if you’re looking for a post-recession gauge.  So, it looks like we’ll just have to make do knowing that the city of Atlanta grew 3.4% from ’07 to ’08 and wait ’til next year for any kind of 2009 data.

On the eve of the Decatur Arts Festival, and in the time-honored tradition of copping ideas from the New York Times, I thought it would be interesting to pose a question directly to our city’s artists.

The recent response to a question posed by the New York Times about how artists were responding to the recession peaked my locavore-ish interest.  While many artists relayed the expected stories of less work and funding, many also mentioned in the same virtual-breath that the slowdown was also in some ways “liberating.”   Singer/songwriters have found more time to write and play their own work – instead of an endless cycle of covers, while visual artists talked about time to focus on refining their skill set.

Obviously the economic slowdown is going to hit some people harder than they can take it.  What may seem liberating to one artist who brings in less work but can still pay the bills, can feel like the end of the world for one with no work or income.   However, the Times article talked a lot about how these “dispatches from the arts world were infused with fortitude and resolve, as well as a sense of release” and I was curious to see if Decatur/Atlanta/Georgia artists have had a similar reaction.

Art and economics have always been intricately connected, so there’s no doubt that this newly termed “Great” Recession will have a very real impact on the world’s art forms.  The physical results are yet unknown, but thanks to a little more time on our hands, it may just be an age of rediscovery.

I look forward to your responses.