Singer-songwriter Nuela Charles receives $15,000 Edmonton arts award

On November 20, the Edmonton Arts Council, the City of Edmonton, and the Edmonton Community Foundation celebrated their 25th anniversary of the Edmonton Arts Trust Fund (EATF) by giving 25 local artists $15,000 each. The award recognizes an artist’s work and contribution to their community and provides financial support to “renew, develop, create, or experiment.”

One of the 25 local artists was Nuela Charles, a JUNO award-winning singer-songwriter living in Edmonton. Her music has appeared in popular television shows such as Jane the Virgin or Tiny Pretty Things.

Charles was born in Kenya. She grew up, however, in Switzerland, Canada, and the Bahamas, until finally deciding to settle in Edmonton. Her parents had recognized that there is more than one way of living, and this worldview was passed down to her. 

“It comes down to appreciating that we’re all human, you know? And so that lends itself to the lyrical content of my music.”

Charles’ first album, Aware, is a very personal record about her thoughts and feelings. It openly explores her experiences and evolvement. But, she wanted her music to relate to others as well.

“As I grew up and evolved as a person, I wanted my music to speak to people as well and not be so one-sided,” Charles explained. She hopes listeners can get something out of her music just as much as she did while creating it.

Charles’ music is about her life around her. She finds inspiration by letting herself “be open to receiving.” She still takes things from her own life, but more from the lives of those around her and their experiences. 

Charles appreciates that the EATF award encourages artists to stay in Edmonton

“I want [my audience] to feel empowered and just strong in who they are,” Charles shared. “If they don’t know who they are like that, there’s a safe space to figure that out and go for your dreams.”

Another thing Charles has implemented into her music is trying different things sonically. She believes that if everything she creates sounds like her first album, everything will sound “boring.”

Charles especially likes to take sonically-different things from the different countries she has lived in. She is the “common denominator,” which allows her “to appreciate that and take from each country that I’ve been in.”

Staying in Edmonton when your career relies so heavily on the arts is often difficult, Charles explained. After reaching a certain level of success, artists eventually move to different cities for more opportunities.

“It’s so hard. I feel like in most disciplines, you hit a ceiling and you’re like, ‘I’ve made it to the top of whatever the rank is in Edmonton.’ We usually have to leave for music [to] Los Angeles (LA), New York, Toronto, London.”

Charles thinks that this is why the EATF award is important — it supports and encourages artists to stay in Edmonton. For her, the award says, “we’ll support you, and we want you to stay here.”

“To have the support from your city to go out and then come home … it’s huge. It’s just massive. So I’m really appreciative.”

Charles is planning new future projects. Recently, she’s gotten back into writing, and she’s been working in LA on new projects as well.

“Just a couple singles here and there to kind of get the machine going again,” she said.

Charles will also be performing on February 8 at The Starlite Room, as part of the Together YEG series for Black History Month.