SGIA & Volunteers Complete New Orleans Initiative

SGIA members and business partners successfully completed a bold initiative to provide large-format graphic panels to temporary construction areas along Canal Street, a central thoroughfare in downtown New Orleans.

“Canal Street is showing great improvements as a major connector between the Ernest N. Morial Convention Center and the French Quarter,” said SGIA President/CEO Michael Robertson (Read Robertson’s full message). “SGIA and our volunteer members were excited to show during the installation phases of the initiative how specialty imaging can enhance any urban landscape in the midst of renovations.”

The SGIA Canal Street Initiative was made possible by generous contributions from more than 40 member companies and affiliates (Read about various milestones these members reached). Volunteers installed more than 100 large-format graphic panels over several storefronts along Canal Street. One “super graphic” installation involved covering 2,420 square feet of the historic Audubon building.

Utilizing Innovative Techniques

These specialty imagers overcame printing, finishing and installation challenges to provide high-quality graphics that now grace several storefronts, much to the delight of residents, local businesses and tourists.

“We are so grateful to SGIA for this extremely generous donation, and for their support of New Orleans,” said Stephen Perry, President and CEO of the New Orleans Metropolitan Convention and Visitors Bureau. “These beautiful graphic panels are a much-welcome addition to the urban landscape.”

With the successful completion of the initiative, SGIA is looking to bring graphic support to the Louis Armstrong New Orleans International Airport. The Association would like to thank the following volunteer member companies and affiliates that made this project possible:

Media Providers:

• 3M Graphics Market Center (St. Paul, MN)
• Alcan Composites USA Inc. (St. Louis, MO)
• Ultraflex Systems, Inc. (Randolph, NJ)
• VYCOM, Div/AZEK Building Products (Ocean, NJ)

Print Providers:

• Alabama Graphics & Eng Supply (Birmingham, AL)
• Crescent Decal Specialist Inc. (Kenner, LA)
• Gerber Scientific Products (South Windsor, CT)
• Digital Imaging Group (Flowood, MS)
• Gillespie Graphics (Wilsonville, OR)
• MacDermid ColorSpan Inc. (Minnetonka, MN)
• Markley Enterprise Inc. (Elkhart, IN)
• Miller-Zell Inc. (Atlanta, GA)
• New Vista Image (Golden, CO)
• NUR America, Inc. (Moonachie, NJ)
• Pixus Digital Printing (Lafayette, LA)
• Prime Source Inc. (Atlanta, GA)
• Selecto-Flash Inc. (West Orange, NJ)
• Stella Color (Seattle, WA)
• Vista Color Imaging Inc. (Cleveland, OH)
• Visual Impact (Baline, MN)
• Yunker Industries (Lake Geneva, WI)

Install Support:

• Digital Imaging Group (Flowood, MS)
• Freeman (New Orleans, LA)
• Kim Magraw (Mount Pleasant, SC)
• GES Exposition Services  (New Orleans, LA)
• Interstate Graphics & Installation Services (Rosholt, WI)
• Mardi Gras Productions (New Orleans, LA)
• Professional Decal Application Association Inc. (Jacksonville, FL)
• Shepard Exposition Services (Atlanta, GA)
• Snap Graphics Inc. (Atlanta, GA)
• Stamm Advertising (Vicksburg, MS)

Consumable Providers:

• EFI VUTEk (Meredith, NH)
• FLEXcon (Spencer, MA)
• HP/Scitex (Libertyville, IL)
• Leggett and Platt Digital Technologies (Sunrise, FL)

On-site Support:

• Astor Crowne Plaza Hotel
• Chateau Sonesta Hotel
• Hilton New Orleans Riverside
• New Orleans Convention & Visitors Bureau
• Ritz Carlton Hotel
• Royal Sonesta Hotel

Selected Photos Courtesy of:

• Alex Sergeev (College Station, TX)
• Harley Bonham (Phoenix, AZ)

New Orleans Images - Updated
(click on thumbnail for larger image)