May 9, 2002 — Jewel has announced the creation of "Soul City Café," a program designed to encourage and expose new artists across the country.

The launch of "Soul City Café" will coincide with the opening of Jewel's North American tour in mid-June. At eight selected venues on the tour (see itinerary below), two emerging musical acts and one spoken-word performer will be showcased during a special "Soul City Café" segment. Approximately a dozen artists have been chosen and given rotating slots in the various cities. All the artists are responsible for getting themselves to the venues, where they will have a pre-opening slot on Jewel's show. At the end of July, the artists will convene in Jewel's home base of San Diego for a "Soul City Café" art fest, with details to be announced.

In addition, the selected artists are likely to make appearances at invitation-only performances at volunteers' homes. These "Rock the House" venues will give local fans an opportunity to hear the artists in a private setting. In addition, an opportunity is being given to two film school interns to work with a seasoned videographer to shoot footage of the shows. Their efforts will provide content for the internet so fans can follow the "Soul City Café" artists' performances throughout the tour.

Moving forward, "Soul City Café" will serve as an umbrella for a number of events focusing on the discovery and support of emerging talent. On tap for the near future is a nationwide "Soul City Café" contest slated to begin in August. Artists on local and regional levels will compete for the opportunity to perform as part of a final "play-off" at a "Soul City Café" art fest to be held in early 2003.

"'Soul City Café' is an opportunity to expose emerging artists to audiences, both in their own area and on a wider scale as well," said Jewel. "There are so many great performers out there who deserve to be heard, and the hardest thing to do is to get yourself in front of enough people to get the ball rolling. I'm very excited to be able to create a grassroots situation through which they can build a real fan base."

"My passion as a manager is in the development of artistry," said Jewel's manager Lenedra Carroll. "The creation of 'Soul City Café' is an extension of that passion into a larger arena, where we can use our experience and expertise to provide a dynamic platform for launching new talent. Through various programs and events, we intend to develop 'Soul City Café' as a quality brand which audiences will come to recognize as a place to go to discover exciting new performers."

The following eight shows on Jewel's upcoming North American tour will feature special "Soul City Café" segments:

June
15 - Fort Lauderdale, Florida Broward Center For The Performing Arts
22 - Wantagh, New York Jones Beach Amphitheatre
23 - Boston, Massachusetts FleetBoston Pavilion
July
3 - Rochester Hills, Michigan MeadowBrook Music Festival
7 - Cleveland, Ohio Nautica Pavilion
19 - Grand Prairie, Texas Next Stage at The Grand Prairie Show
26 - Los Angeles, California Greek Theatre
28 - San Diego, California SDSU Open Air Theatre