{"id":106369,"date":"2025-12-02T11:36:43","date_gmt":"2025-12-02T16:36:43","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/?p=106369"},"modified":"2025-12-02T16:36:53","modified_gmt":"2025-12-02T21:36:53","slug":"how-the-arts-shaped-walker-cultural-leaders-path-to-indigenous-roots","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/2025\/12\/how-the-arts-shaped-walker-cultural-leaders-path-to-indigenous-roots\/","title":{"rendered":"How the arts shaped Walker Cultural Leader\u2019s path to Indigenous roots"},"content":{"rendered":"

Reclaiming their First Nation identity has led multidisciplinary artist Nicole Joy-Fraser down many paths, from international theatre stages to local drum circles and, recently, to Brock.<\/p>\n

As one of Dramatic Arts’ (DART) Walker Cultural Leaders for 2025-26<\/a>, Joy-Fraser plays the role of the M\u00e9tis Nutcracker in DART\u2019s upcoming mainstage production<\/a>.<\/p>\n

They will join Assistant Professor and M\u00e9tis Nutcracker<\/em> playwright Matthew MacKenzie, a citizen of the M\u00e9tis Nation of Alberta, for a public artist talk, \u201cMaking M\u00e9tis Nutcracker<\/em><\/a>,\u201d on the Marilyn I. Walker Theatre stage on Friday, Dec. 5 at 3 p.m.<\/p>\n

Joy-Fraser is a proud bear clan matriarch who grew up in Mississauga with Euro-Settler, Tsa\u2019tin\u00e9e, Nehiyaw and M\u00e9tis bloodlines from Horse Lake First Nation in Alberta.<\/p>\n

Identity is the heartbeat of Joy-Fraser\u2019s artistic practice, which spans more than 25 years of storytelling on stage and screen with celebrated companies such as the Stratford Festival, the Shaw Festival, Mirvish, Theatre Aquarius, CBC, CBS, BBC and Telefilm.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe more I learn about my background, the more I am driven to keep sharing Indigenous theatre and more deeply understand my job as an artist to propel stories forward not just about identity but also reconciliation,\u201d Joy-Fraser says.<\/p>\n

\"A

Dramatic Arts Walker Cultural Leader Nicole Joy-Fraser is a proud bear clan matriarch who grew up in Mississauga with Euro-Settler, Tsa\u2019tin\u00e9e, Nehiyaw and M\u00e9tis bloodlines from Horse Lake First Nation in Alberta. As a multidisciplinary artist, community theatre practitioner and cultural facilitator, Joy-Fraser continues to advocate for Indigenous ways of knowing and doing, which have greatly impacted their journey as a Sixties Scoop witness and 2Spirit Helper.<\/p><\/div>\n

Inspired by \u2014 as it happens \u2014 a performance of The Nutcracker <\/em>they saw with their parents, Joy-Fraser spent much of their youth performing with local theatre companies. They instantly fell in love with ballet and began singing thanks to the \u201cgolden oldie\u201d musicals on repeat in their home.<\/p>\n

It was in high school drama class, when handed a copy of Dry Lips Oughta Move to Kapuskasing<\/em> (1989) by Cree writer and performer Tomson Highway, that Joy-Fraser began asking more questions about their roots.<\/p>\n

After three years at performing arts college Randolph Academy, Joy-Fraser landed a dream-come-true gig as a member of the first North American cast of Mirvish Theatre\u2019s Mamma Mia!<\/em> auditioned by ABBA\u2019s Bj\u00f6rn Ulvaeus himself.<\/p>\n

Years of performing in many non-Indigenous roles followed for Joy-Fraser on prestigious stages across Canada and with West End Theatre in London, U.K.<\/p>\n

At the same time, Joy-Fraser\u2019s drive to learn about their First Nation identity burned brighter, spurring them on in their\u00a0journey to\u00a0find\u00a0their\u00a0maternal birth family.<\/p>\n

After years of searching and almost giving up,\u00a0Joy-Fraser finally connected to their Northern Alberta roots. An Elder at their first sweat ceremony recognized their surname as belonging to their birth mother and realized her cousin was married to Joy-Fraser\u2019s Auntie.<\/p>\n

\u201cAt that time, we weren\u2019t equipped with the language and learnings to help us carry our trauma as intergenerational survivors and Sixties Scoop witnesses,\u201d Joy-Fraser said.<\/p>\n

Joy-Fraser began attending traditional healing ceremonies and connecting with Elders and Knowledge Keepers. Suddenly, they were learning their history.<\/p>\n

\u201cMy acting roles began resonating with my personal growth, and I knew I was bound to give back to our community by sharing my story and helping others heal through the arts,\u201d they said.<\/p>\n

Performing the role of the M\u00e9tis Nutcracker as DART\u2019s Walker Culture Leader has been a meaningful experience for Joy-Fraser, moved by sharing both their extensive experience as theatre practitioner as well as First Nation customs that have been part of the production process, including smudging ceremonies and feasts.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe best way to learn something is to experience it, and DART students are learning about Indigenous cultures by embodying this story \u2014\u00a0by living it and reflecting on it \u2014\u00a0you couldn\u2019t ask for a more active action of reconciliation than what Brock is doing right now with this piece.\u201d<\/p>\n

As an Indigenous student and actor, second-year DART student Abbey Keays of the Upper Mohawk Turtle Clan who performs in M\u00e9tis Nutcracker<\/em> said she has learned so much from Joy-Fraser, who she looks to as a mentor.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have had important talks about what we can do to keep our cultural stories accurate, appropriate and informative. It\u2019s not very often you get the chance to experience Indigenous work or work with Indigenous artists as an actor who is starting out,\u201d Keays said. \u201cI am very grateful to have Nicole Joy-Fraser to look up to in my career.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Reclaiming their First Nation identity has led multidisciplinary artist Nicole Joy-Fraser down many paths, from international theatre stages to local drum circles and, recently, to Brock.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":62,"featured_media":106372,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[9794,37,1],"tags":[14938,6442,656,109,30,10145,9918,2518,13903,1298],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/106369"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/62"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=106369"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/106369\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":106376,"href":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/106369\/revisions\/106376"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/106372"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=106369"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=106369"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=106369"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}