Joy Seeker Festival
A Celebration of the Life and Music of Nicole Edwards
Saturday June 18th 2pm
Mt Lorne Community Centre
Come sing and dance and celebrate the extraordinary life and music of Nicole Edwards!
Nicole passed away September 8th, 2021. She was the creative force and heart behind many endeavors that touched and inspired others to shine. She leaves behind a rich musical and community legacy that is described on her website: https://nicoleedwardsmusic.com/
To honour and celebrate Nicole’s life we are holding a one-day mini music festival on the afternoon/early evening of Saturday June 18th at Mt. Lorne Community Centre.
This is a family friendly event featuring friends and musical colleagues of Nicole’s performing music inspired by Nicole. There will be individual performances throughout the day starting at 2pm, winding up with a dance set because Nicole would insist on dancing :)
Some performers so far: Lucie D, Caroline Watt, Claire Ness, Frazer Canyon, Fawn Fritzen, Annie Avery’s All Star Dance Band!
Admission is free, donations to (Bringing Youth Towards Equality) BYTE’s Nicole Edwards Leadership Fund are welcome. There will be a cash jar for donations on site.
Bring cash for food and refreshments
We are still seeking volunteers: All manner of help is needed from techs and stage helpers to performers and on-site crew. to set-up/tear-downers and everything in between. If you would like to be part of this show/concert in some way or would like to share a memory, please get in contact with Andrea McColeman – email: amccoleman88@gmail.com
Feel free to spread the word and please plan to come to this happy celebration of Nicole’s life!
FAQs
How late will this event go?
We are not sure, but we are imagining it could end as early as 7 or as late as 9.
Will there be food available?
Yes, there will be food for sale and a cash bar
Can I use debit or credit cards?
No! Please bring cash!!
What if it’s raining that day?
We will still go ahead with the event. All the performances will take place in the covered shelter, and the building will also be available to warm up in if needed.
Where is Mount Lorne Community Centre?
1 km down the Annie Lake Road on the right hand side. About 40 min drive from downtown Whitehorse.
https://goo.gl/maps/MkiUeBT26vLP8Tt16
Mindful Musical Tool Kit
Nicole wished for her music to remain accessible, shared, and enjoyed. In particular, she hoped for her Mindful Musical Tool Kit to be a helpful resource for all ages. Through songs, strategies, and additional activity suggestions, she gifted us with a set of beautiful musical mindfulness tools for anyone to use. You may find something to help you cope with loss, or a pathway to de-escalate and find peace in challenging times. You may find a spark of joy to reawaken creativity and intention. Perhaps you will simply enjoy the songs, reminding us of our resilience and celebrating our remarkable brain-changing power!
Please take a look and listen: http://nicoleedwardsmusic.com/mindfulness/
In accordance with her wishes, Nicole’s website and music will remain online and her Yukon Lullaby for Mental Health mindfulness resources will continue to be developed and shared. If you would like to receive occasional updates on her music and projects in her memory, please sign up for her newsletter.
If you wish to support Nicole’s legacy and work, you may do so via her Patreon page. Funds received will be used to share Nicole’s generous offerings, including songs and teachings from her project, promoting her mindfulness materials, and supporting the Nicole Edwards Leadership Fund through BYTE.
Do you have an idea on how Nicole’s Mindful Musical Tool Kit could be shared, or a story about how it has helped? Please reach out at info@NicoleEdwardsMusic.com
Nicole Edwards (September 14, 1970 – September 8, 2021)
Nicole lived a life of open-hearted positivity, seeing the beauty and humanity in each person she met.
She was able to make a person of any age, ability or background feel important and heard. She shone brightly in her love of music, nature and children and was a dedicated ‘Joy Seeker’.
Raised in South River, Ontario, by a group of strong women with her mother at the core, Nicole discovered early that art and community flourished together; by the time she was a teenager, she was an organizer as well as a performer. Her passion grew through travel, university and an eventual move to the Yukon in 1997. Here, she founded B.Y.T.E (Bringing Youth Towards Equality) and inspired a generation of Yukon youth to ‘Be the change’ – work that would earn her a Meritorious Service Medal from the Governor General. She was also a founding member of Yukon Women in Music. The release of her first original album in 2001 coincided with a diagnosis of scleroderma. With her husband Lee at her side and much determination, Nicole learned to adapt to chronic fatigue and pain. Her prime vocation remained community service through the arts, supporting and mentoring other musicians. She delighted blurring genres in her own music, always staying true to her voice with titles like ‘Love, serve and uplift’ and ‘Apathy is boring’. She found particular joy in performing and recording in French and Spanish, and was recognized in the book ‘Franchir l’espace, la musique de l’Ouest et du Nord canadiens’.
In 2017, Nicole performed a benefit concert that would be her last. As her symptoms progressed and life became increasingly difficult, she continued to serve, advocating for trauma-informed, person-centred care and generating a repertoire of songs and resources for mindfulness education.
Thanks to the advocacy of those who came before, Nicole was able to obtain Medical Assistance In Dying after years of suffering. She chose to end her journey beneath her favourite aspens in her garden in Mount Lorne, Yukon. She was surrounded by flowers and symbols of people she loved. She was pre-deceased by her father, Don Edwards. She is survived by her husband Lee Close, mother Margaret Edwards, sister Laurel Lamb (Doug Lamb) and brother Richard Edwards (Suzanne Jackson).
Much gratitude to the many practitioners, support staff, volunteers and friends who supported Nicole through her years of illness and to the compassionate doctors who attended her passing.
For those wishing to remember Nicole, please share her music and mindfulness resources (www.nicoleedwardsmusic.com). Donations may be made to B.Y.T.E.’s leadership fund.
A Celebration of Life was held at the Mount Lorne Community Centre on September 26, 2021. The link to the recorded celebration is here: Nicole Edwards Celebration of Life
I’ve been absent. This is why:
October 2017 I’m thankful I was able to produce a concert that was important to me. The theme was “Love, Serve & Uplift”. I celebrated living 20 years in the Yukon by fundraising for Yukon Cares, a non-profit dedicated to sponsoring and supporting refugee families to get established in Whitehorse. It was a beautiful evening! I had a CHOIR of special people singing my songs with me! The audience was warm and generous. 💝 I called it my “last hurrah” because my symptoms had been increasing and I knew I’d have to let go of many things that I love doing. I did not, however anticipate a severe adrenal crash that I would not recover from.
It has been a rough couple of years with lots of loss and overwhelming symptoms – physical and mental. I’ve been grieving my loss of independence. It feels like it has been a long road to figure out my needs and how to meet them. Since May 2019, we have private Home Support, two lovely souls who help us part time 6 days a week to make my days easier. The home support is paid for with the generous donations from friends, family, fans and community. So much GRATITUDE! 💝 You can check out my Patreon crowd-sourcing page at this link: https://www.patreon.com/nicoleedwards/overview
This Patreon page is all about offering love to Nicole as her condition has worsened in the last year and half. We are using the Patreon model because Nicole is an artist! Become a Patron of Nicole’s today
Patreon is an avenue for me to continue sharing my creative works at my own slow pace thanks to donations. It pays for my home support. It helps me to stay connected. I am so very thankful for this! 💝
Another way to support me is to buy and share my music. You can stream, download and read lyrics at my Bandcamp page: https://nicoleedwards.bandcamp.com
In honour of Scleroderma Awareness Month (June), I made a playlist with songs that I wrote to process living with a chronic illness…..expressing loss, love and laughter. It can be streamed on Spotify. Please share.
My state of health prevents me from PARTICIPATING in life. It’s rewarding for me to be able to still share and connect through my music.
Peace, Love, Laughter and HAaaaaaaaaappinesssssss, Nicole💜
Singing with children
Nicole often worked with and performed for young audiences, including children. She did vocal workshops, coached youth in doing children’s music shows at schools, and was part of a pilot project for a literacy and musical TV show. She loved puppets and did creative work with puppet support!
She also lent her voice to creative projects by others. L’Hiver Yukonnais is one of these.
Steve Slade wrote the song with the Robert Service School Grade 6 French Class (Dawson City) in 2007. It was part of a larger project that involved the elementary schools in 4 local communities. Nicole assisted after the songwriting by recording the lead (guiding) vocals with the proper French pronunciation and phrasing to fit the rhythm. Here is Nicole’s reflection about it:
| “L’hiver yukonnais” is a precious northern winter song written by elementary students from Dawson City in 2008. This bilingual lullaby tugs at my heart strings. There is something special about children’s voices and the simple wisdom in the lyrics. The students paint an evocative picture of life in the North from a youth perspective that includes the animals they live among. Click the arrow above to listen. Read lyrics below. Some things I appreciate about Yukon culture and life include: people being creative in all sorts of ways; respect and support for artists; and the close access to and respect for wilderness. I’d like to give a shout-out to all the dedicated creatives and teachers living in the Yukon. I love that young people have access to excellent mentors who provide great experiences and opportunities for playing with and working on creative expression. Instead of only observing culture, active participation is encouraged. I’ve also loved living in a place where I can speak French and have felt welcomed to be part of the vibrant Yukon Francophone community. I feel very fortunate to have had many creative opportunities and outlets living in the Yukon. I’ve been able to initiate and produce a ton of fun, meaningful concerts/projects over the years AND it’s cool to be invited to support-collaborate on others’ projects too! My role in “L’hiver yukonnais” was to tweak the lyrics so they’d be singable in French and English, and to sing as a guide vocal for the children to follow. Pretty cool gig! I was recently reminded of this song so I’d like to share this memory with you all. Today a moose came by to have a snack on our Saskatoon berry bush near our greenhouse. I took the photo through the window to our back yard. I rarely leave my house, so you can imagine how thankful I am to have a beautiful window “view from the couch“!! Listening to the news reminds me how grateful I am to be living at home and in the Yukon, Canada. Your support helps to make that possible by funding my Home Support Workers. I can’t say enough THANKS. Wishing you warmth, peace, good health and a loving Valentines Day! Created with gratitude within the traditional territories of the Tr’ondëk Hwëch’in and Kwanlin Dün First Nations and the Ta’an Kwäch’än Council. CREDITS: Dawson City teachers: Tim and Marie-Eve Music support & production: Peter Menzies and Steve Slade Sung by Nicole Edwards and Dawson’s class of 2008 Recorded and performed by Bob Hamilton and Annie Avery LYRICS: Yukon Winter-L’hiver yukonnais – lyrics-paroles We like snow. On aime la neige. But the dark is depressing, deprimant. The bears are asleep. But the wolves are out. Les ours dorment. Les loups sortent. Walk to school in the dark Even though we’re half asleep The wilderness is wide-awake Les renards, les hibous, les lapins, les loups Les orignaux et les caribous We like snow. On aime la neige We enjoy it while it’s here. C’est l’hiver. La moto neige, le hockey, le ski alpin, la planche a neige, la peche sur glace Hot chocolate by the river Even as we fall asleep The wilderness wakes up Les renards, les hibous, les lapins, les loups Les orignaux et les caribous We like snow. On aime la neige C’est l’hiver au Yukon We love it all. Even the dark. C’est l’hiver au Yukon C’est l’hiver English translation: L’hiver yukonnais = Yukon Winter Les renards, les hibous, les lapins, les loups = Foxes, owls, rabbits, wolves Les orignaux et les caribous = Moose and caribou Les ours. Les loups. = Bears, wolves La moto neige = snowmobiling La planche a neige = snow boarding La peche sur glace = ice fishing |