Rainbow Hub Community Member Of The Month

Joce Reyome

Photo submitted by Joce Reyome

Pronouns: They/Them/Theirs

CFA but here to stay | IG

What adjectives would local bad-ass Claire Bryne use to describe Joce?

“Multi-Talented, Kind, Generous, The Best Person Ever, Funky & Chunky.”

Joce Reyome came to Prince Edward Island in 2016 to attend Holland College’s School of Performing Arts. They got their start on Island stages through Feast Dinner Theatre, Canada’s longest running dinner theatre. It was there that Joce was first noticed by local musician, Andrew Waite, who was the music director for their first Feast show. According to Joce, “It snowballed from there, working with Andrew was my starting point. He pushed me to step outside my comfort zone, and from there it’s been hard work and networking.”

Although they’ve completed their journey with the Holland College School of Performing Arts, they have no intent on leaving our salty shores anytime soon. “I’ve never been more accepted and more involved in a community. Everybody that I know makes it feel like home.” PEI creates a unique nexus for creatives. “Networking [here] is hard, and so simple at the same time. You’re just talking with your friends, but it’s also hard because you’re talking to your friends and potential coworkers, or potential bosses. You know it can just be a fun gig. But you have to be able to make the distinction between being friends and being professionals. For me, that’s a uniquely PEI thing.”

PEI has proven to be a perfect spot for Joce to focus on their music for the past two years, and they feel immense gratitude for their experiences thus far. They’ve had the pleasure of sharing the stage with Island talents such as Dylan Menzie, Catherine MacLellan, Brandon Roy, Russell Louder, Andrew Waite, Irish Mythen, and Tanya Davis. “The community of musicians on PEI is incredible, it’s a scene where everyone wants to see everyone else succeed. Not only be able to play music, but to be able to financially succeed doing what you love doing. There isn’t intense competition, but friendly competition. It’s the same as trying to one up your best friends all the time.”

Joce has been openly queer since arriving on PEI two years ago, and finds the music scene a welcoming place for the 2SLGBTQ+ community. “Queer people want to hire queer people, and straight people want to hire queer people.”

Being out in a small province, and a small city like Charlottetown may have its challenges, but Joce has a very positive outlook on the prospects of continuing to build queer community on Prince Edward Island, “I think it’s on the path to being more close knit. But I’ve only been a part of it for two years. From what I can see it’s on the path to becoming a utopia of a queer community.”  That doesn’t mean that there isn’t space for growth, and continued social understanding and development. Joce sits as the chair of the Pride 2SBIPOC Advisory Board, which was put in place to ensure that POC (People Of Colour) and 2S (Two Spirit) have a safe place to have their voices heard. When asked about the creation of the Advisory Board which formed in December of 2019, Joce said PEI Pride had arrived at a place where it could start doing necessary work beyond that of getting its feet off the ground. “PEI needs to be more accepting of a coloured queer community. I don’t think people are actively against that, but I think it needs to be more at the forefront. [The 2SBIPOC Advisory Board] has been in heavy discussion about cultural aspects of being queer within the BIPOC community, ultimately our goal is not to have to sacrifice being black to be gay, or sacrifice being gay to be black”. 

Pride PEI, as with most mainstream Pride groups across the country, are largely composed of white bodies. Joce said this is due to white people prioritizing white voices. “It’s easy to be white and different, it’s hard to be BIPOC, and it’s even harder to be BIPOC and queer.” Joce is committed to working within the Island’s queer community, and making sure that our queer culture evolves with our changing social fabrics. “As a community we need to keep your eyes open, and understand that not everyone comes from the same point in their life. Some older folks come out later in life, and then you have people who have known their entire life. We need to be aware that we’re all shooting for the same goals and rights, but we have to keep in mind that different queer people come from different backgrounds, different politics, different socioeconomic backgrounds. We need to be active, and not passive. We need to make sure that there is no tension in terms of being a part of different types of communities, we need to recognize where our boundaries lie, and be conscious citizens.”

Joce, if the world could only know five things about you, what would they be?

“I always put my left shoe on before my left. Superstition. I eat lasagna and red velvet cake every year for my birthday. I like to cook, and sometimes I’m good at it, and sometimes I’m not. I tried to make ramen last night and it did not go well. I’ve always had a pet growing up, from the tender age of zero. I just adopted by my first adult pet with my partner, Cameron Cassidy, he’s named Joe, he’s two, and he’s a big mushy dumb-dumb dog. I’m a musician. I like my own smile.”

Any final thoughts?

Vote For Bernie.

Who would you like to see as our next Rainbow Hub Community Member Of The Month? Drop us a line at info@rainbowhub.ca !