We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Kevin Winstead a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.
Kevin, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. Did you always know you wanted to pursue a creative or artistic career? When did you first know?
It was at a very young age. Maybe 8 or 9? I was always bored with mundane activities, like schoolwork, or chores. So, just thinking about “jobs” makes you want to bury yourself alive. If it isn’t fun, it isn’t worth it! That’s a mindset that serves me much better as an adult, than it ever did as a kid, but I knew I was born for it.
As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your background and context?
Like any kid, I loved watching cartoons, but the heavy favorites were the superhero cartoons, so I always wanted to be one of them. Being Spider-Man beats the shit out of running a hydraulic press for eight hours a day, right? Then I discovered WWF wrestling, which seemingly brought those hero/villain aspects to life. I was going to do that! As I got older, being neither 6 ft tall, nor 200+ pounds, I decided against that, because I would have to learn an acrobatic style of wrestling that would have landed me a broken neck. When I got older, music was the key. It inspired everything. So, I began composing darkwave/aggrotech (industrial) music, and forming a band with some of the guys. Stage performance felt pretty natural, though good and bad performances, alike. Once that ran its course, I met a local filmmaker (Tim Novotny), and acting just became he next natural fit.
In your view, what can society to do to best support artists, creatives and a thriving creative ecosystem?
Every city across this country should have a central advertising park for its entertainment scene. A place where that particular city can focus on ALL of the events taking place, each month, whether indie, or otherwise. Perhaps containing one led billboard showcasing all scheduled events, and a place where local artists can physically post their advertisements. This park could host market events, too. Where booths could be affordably rented for artists to sell their merch. Networking events could be hosted there, as well. Predictably, though, I could see city officials claiming “it’s not in our budget”. Well, paying income tax certainly isn’t in everyone’s budget, either, but who’s bending for that one? Investing in your city’s entertainment mecca, and spotlighting EVERYTHING would build the activity necessary for people to actually feel like they’re having fun in their city. Spend money to make money.
What do you find most rewarding about being a creative?
Self expression is the obvious one for any creative, but for me, it’s when you start to see your audience coming in. When you finally achieve the means necessary to reach outside of your network. There are billions of people on this planet. Find them, and your audience will be built.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://IMDb.me/kevinwinstead
- Facebook: @kevin.winstead.7
- Twitter: @Kevin_Winstead1
- Youtube: @kevinwinstead1
