Today (2005-present)
Today, Baton Rouge is one of the largest mid-sized business cities in the United States. It is also one of the fastest growing metropolitan areas with a population under 1 million, with 633,261 residents in 2000 and an estimated 2008 population 750,000. Baton Rouge's city population exploded after Hurricane Katrina as residents from the New Orleans metropolitan area moved northward following the devastation, estimates in late 2005 put the displaced population at about 200,000 in the Baton Rouge area. Most returned to their original cities.
Due to the hurricane victims returning home and native Baton Rouge residents fleeing to outlying parishes such as Livingston Parish and Ascension Parish, the U.S. Census Bureau has designated Baton Rouge the second-fastest declining city in its 2007-2008 estimate. Like many metropolitan centers, Baton Rouge has recently created a Downtown Development District, and embarked on a process of urban growth and renewal. In addition to Louisiana State University and capital city politics, Baton Rouge is home to a vibrant mix of cultures from around Louisiana, thus forming the basis of the city motto: "Authentic Louisiana at every turn". Baton Rouge has also become a popular spot for the Film Industry, given the tax breaks Louisiana gives production companies. There are sound stages for the use of production companies, and various spots around the city that production companies have shown a liking to for filming.
Read more about this topic: History Of Baton Rouge
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“Only conservatives believe that subversion is still being carried on in the arts and that society is being shaken by it.... Advanced art today is no longer a cause—it contains no moral imperative. There is no virtue in clinging to principles and standards, no vice in selling or in selling out.”
—Harold Rosenberg (1906–1978)