The NOLA Artist Incubator is at it again! Beautifying the community and supporting the arts, the neighborhood of St. Roch recently got a huge upgrade with the installation of a “Welcome to St. Roch” sign in the neutral ground at St. Roch Avenue and North Johnson Street. Sponsored by the Mayor’s Office of Neighborhood Engagement, the NOLA Artist Incubator was awarded a Beautification and Green Infrastructure grant to support the project.

As phase one of a two phase project, we are delighted to see the instant impact the new signage brings to the community. The sign was locally fabricated by Sparrow of St. Roch Metalworks.

This project aims to unify the North and South sides of St. Roch Avenue. In comparison to the South side of the avenue which is heavily manicured and has established, well lit walking paths, the other side of St. Roch Park is noticeably neglected. Each part of the planning process was carefully thought out to connect the two sides of the avenue to one another while beautifying the north side of the neighborhood. The font and scrolling for the fabrication was inspired by the metalwork at the St. Roch cemetery.

Phase two of the project will include mulching the existing trees on the neutral ground of the 2000 block of St. Roch and adding hardy perennials and native plants to adorn the new signage. At the completion of this stage the organization intends to invite neighbors and community stakeholders to celebrate the new green space and signage.

Though currently only funded to complete phase one and two, our vision includes a proposed phase three of the project, in which we hope to gain support to add sustainable green spaces from North Johnson Street the length all the way to where the avenue breaks for the canal at Florida Avenue. We envision permeable walking paths, benches, and more biodiversity along the avenue. The organization sees this recent development as a great example of how transformative art and intentional sustainable landscaping can be for communities and anticipates phase two of the project to be completed by May of this year.