This post continues an ongoing conversation with local arts leaders about how the economy is impacting their business. (Read the first in this series of posts here or an even earlier post here.)

The national media are starting to pick up the broader story about the effects of the recession on arts organizations and the art market. This Boston Globe article opens with the bittersweet account of a patron requesting an extended donation payment plan; in the past week, more ominous stories about art museums and the Frieze Art Fair hit the New York Times. All three articles suggest that the worst may be yet to come.

On the other hand, this story about the $69 million economic impact of Olafur Eliasson’s Waterfalls hit NYC newspapers this afternoon—a glimmer of good news that emphasizes one of the many ways in which we value art (i.e., by its nifty tendency to attract tourists).

As of three weeks ago, representatives from both the Salvador Dali Museum and the Tampa Museum of Art told me their building projects are on track to meet previously set opening dates (fall 2010 and fall 2009, respectively). And Lights on Tampa 2009 remains set to take place during the Super Bowl. (I assume it will play a role in luring Super Bowl visitors to Tampa’s downtown—what those visitors will think of the city’s core when they get there is another question.)

Thoughts from other players in the Bay area arts community:

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At the Dunedin Fine Arts Center, enrollment in art classes remains consistent from last year, though the organization is watching their numbers closely, says Ken Hannon, associate executive director and director of communications.

“We certainly think part of the reason for our sustained numbers is that we remain a good value for people’s leisure/entertainment [dollars],” Hannon says.

All the same, the DFAC has canceled a planned tuition increase, just in case it would have a negative effect on enrollment. (Fall Session II runs Nov. 3-Dec. 14, and offerings include classes in clay, digital imaging, jewelry, and printmaking.)

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Lori Johns, owner of C. Emerson Fine Arts, struggles to come to terms with the universal disappointments of the Tampa Bay art market but hasn’t seen her gallery’s sales dip with the stock market volatility or general economic malaise.

“A lot of people in the area like to come to the art shows…as an alternative to the club scene and have no intention of buying,” she says. Long ago, Johns learned to abide those people and focus on the comparatively small group of serious collectors who regularly purchase art. For now, she says, those collectors are “still in the game.”

In fact, rather than shying away from showcasing high-end works of art in these times, C. Emerson’s next show will feature editions by heavy hitters including James Rosenquist printed at Sarasota-based Flatstone Studios. Given the recent carnage on Wall St., a print by a blue-chip artist might be a better investment than some formerly blue-chip stocks, Johns suggests.

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Earlier this month, the Tampa Artist Emporium (runner-up in this year’s Creative Loafing Best of the Bay readers poll for Best Art Gallery) shut its doors in Hyde Park—but not because of the economy. Following its launch last year, the Emporium enjoyed a sweetheart one-year lease on a storefront that has now been closed in anticipation of Hyde Park’s ongoing redevelopment. On Nov. 1, the Emporium re-opens at its new South Tampa location in the same plaza as Starbucks on Bay-to-Bay Blvd.

Owner Shelby Boggs admits that the summer doldrums were rough but reports that, overall, sales at the art-and-craft showroom continue to grow as the business gains name recognition in the community. (Although, like several art retailers I’ve spoken to, she points to a newly felt weakness at the lower price points—around $50—without a corresponding slowdown in spending at higher price points.)

The move to South Tampa will be particularly beneficial to the Emporium and the artists who rent its wall space given plans for the Palma Ceia Design District, Boggs says. She plans to be more aggressive in promoting the Emporium’s artists to interior designers and hopes to partner with adjacent business for cross-promotions, like a “diva day” geared to women featuring the Emporium’s jewelers and massages from a salon next door.

In building out the Emporium’s new interior, the current economic climate factored into her decision to build more $100-level spaces—nooks and walls that artists can rent for modest-to-moderate monthly expense. But since the Emporium eschews the traditional art gallery model in favor of a space-rental policy, it functions as a somewhat Darwinian, self-selecting system in both good and bad economic times.

“If [the artists] don’t sell, they don’t stay,” Boggs says.