Jewel will put her Swiss roots on display with a performance at the Swiss National Day celebration on Ellis Island, Saturday, July 29, 2006, honoring Switzerland's 715th birthday. The event, presented by swissroots.org will also feature the newly designed exhibition, "Small Number - Big Impact," a lively presentation of Swiss immigration history to the U.S. that will run until October 31, 2006 and is organized by "The Association for a Swiss Migration Museum". Swiss Minister of Culture, Federal Councilor Pascal Couchepin, will officially open the exhibition, in addition to delivering the Swiss National Day keynote address. Furthermore, Swiss National Day will showcase a wide range of Swiss entertainers, exhibits, and culinary delicacies.
Proud of her Swiss heritage, Jewel decided, much like Pittsburgh Steelers' Ben Roethlisberger, to join "Swiss Roots", a program that seeks to inspire Americans to connect with Switzerland, and she will become a "Swiss Roots" spokesperson. She says: "I was raised aware of my Swiss roots, singing traditional songs and eating traditional food. I even have a Swiss passport." As a Swiss born American, Jewel's father, Atz Kilcher, whom she will perform with at Swiss National Day, helped familiarize his daughter with her family's Swiss heritage.
Jewel who became aware of "Swiss Roots" through the makers of "Small Number - Big Impact", is one of the celebrities featured in the exhibition. Others include Marc Forster (Oscar-winning film maker), Adolf Rickenbacker (inventor of the electric guitar), Albert Gallatin (finance minister under President Thomas Jefferson), Elisabeth Kübler-Ross (psychiatrist and death researcher), Louis Chevrolet (racing driver and car maker), Robert Frank (photographer), Andreas Dietsch (early socialist), Othmar H. Amman (bridge builder), and General Johann August Sutter (adventurer). The exhibition also includes the "Swiss Forum", a lounge in which visitors have access to Internet stations enabling Swiss-ancestry genealogical searches. In addition, a comprehensive exhibition catalogue will be on sale at the Ellis Island Museum's book shop.
