Ellis Island, NY (April 2009) – The Statue of Liberty-Ellis Island Foundation, Inc. today announced the official launch of its new American Flag of Faces™ website at (www.FlagOfFaces.org). This interactive website invites all Americans to submit photos of their families, their ancestors, even themselves to become a part of this living, ever-changing American mosaic.

Participants can upload digital photos at (www.FlagOfFaces.org) with a tax-deductible donation of $50 to become part of the American Flag of Faces™. This dynamic website, created and produced by ESI Design and Artgig Studio, opens with an animated red, white and blue flag populated with user-submitted images. Each image can be clicked on and enlarged. Users can also search by name to call up specific individual or family photos. email theater@ellisisland.org

The American Flag of Faces™ will also become a central exhibit in the upcoming Peopling of America® Center, an exciting new expansion of the Ellis Island Immigration Museum. The Flag of Faces exhibit will consist of a large video installation providing a mosaic of all the portraits submitted by individuals and families who have made America their home throughout the generations.

The Peopling of America® Center will enlarge the story currently told of the Ellis Island Era (1892-1954) to include the entire panorama of the American immigration experience, with exhibits dedicated to those who arrived before Ellis as well as those who arrived post-1954, right up to the present. With the anticipated 2011 opening of The Peopling of America® Center, Ellis Island will

illustrate the American immigration story across the generations, and the museum will be renamed Ellis Island: The National Museum of Immigration.

The launching of the American Flag of Faces™ is just in time for Mother’s Day. Honoring ancestors and family by submitting their images to be a part of this exciting new exhibit makes a very special tribute to America’s “moms” on May 10. And proceeds will help support the creation of the upcoming Peopling of America® Center at Ellis Island.

To learn more or to upload an image, visit (www.FlagOfFaces.org). Photos may also be submitted by mail. Applications are available by calling (212) 561-4588 or writing: The Statue of Liberty-Ellis Island Foundation, Inc., c/o Flag of Faces, 17 Battery Place, Suite 210, New York, NY 10004-3507.

CONTACT:
Peg Zitko (212) 561-4517
pzitko@ellisisland.org