We were lucky to catch up with Curt Bonnem recently and have shared our conversation below.
Alright, Curt thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. We’d love to hear about the things you feel your parents did right and how those things have impacted your career and life.
I feel incredibly lucky to have the parents I do and can honestly say they are a major reason that I make a living as a performer. There are both general and very specific reasons for this.
First of all, my parents both encouraged my artistic side and very much enabled it from the time I was a child. My father, while being what many would consider a fairly traditional ‘businessman’, was also a musician and a singer. He taught me to play piano starting from a very early age as well as introduced me to my love of singing. He was a barbershop singer for many years and would bring me to rehearsals, where I even began to sing with the chorus. We’d also go to many barbershop concerts and travel every year to wherever the big barbershop convention/national competition was being held. Along with that, he’d also take me to things like college jazz band competitions, where my interest in music grew.
In the 5th grade, my parents encouraged me to audition for our local children’s theater. I believe they saw the performer in me and thought it would be a good outlet for that. It was a bit of fate. It was during the very first play I was ever in that I decided performing was what I wanted to do with my life. I’m being serious, too. As a 5th grader I made that decision and never changed my mind. That might not have happened if my parents hadn’t encouraged me to try out.
Many performers I know have a common experience of their parents discouraging their pursuits, telling them they should go to school for something else ‘practical’ and get a ‘real job.’ My parents never did that to me. They always supported my artistic endeavors. They came to every show. They supported me through college getting a degree in theater. While they certainly did hope I’d find success, I was never discouraged or pressured to give up my dreams.
One particular story regarding this was at a time when I did have the dreaded ‘Day Job.’ It was actually quite a good job and I made good money. I was even moving up the ladder and wound up in a management position. I was also always still performing and pursuing my acting career. At one point, I was scouted by another company and offered a very lucrative position. Six figures, bonuses, travel and benefits. It could truly have been life-changing financially. However, it would have been my entire life and I most certainly wouldn’t have been able to continue pursuing my acting career. When I told my parents about it, I honestly expected them to pressure me to take the job. Instead, they asked me, “will you be happy if you can’t perform?” The answer to that was a resounding no, I didn’t take the job and my parents never mentioned it again. They know me very well and knew how miserable I’d be if I couldn’t perform. It actually was a life-changing moment, just not in the way I’d expected.
They also very directly are responsible for my current success as an audiobook narrator, which is now my full-time job, though I do still do other work in film, theater and voiceover. I had done a play in which one of my cast-mates happened to be an audiobook narrator. I had seen him posting on Facebook about it and thought it sounded like a great gig. My parents were actually audiobook fans and I’d been listening since I was young when we’d take road trips and my parents would play ‘books on tape.’ I mentioned this to my parents and they immediately and very strongly encouraged me to talk to this friend about how to get into doing audiobooks. I told them I would…and then I didn’t. About a year went by and it came up again. When they heard I hadn’t actually talked to my friend, they basically told me I had to and that they’d even help pay for any start up costs with equipment and such. That was the impetus I needed and I very quickly researched the audiobook industry, talked to my friend and put together my first recording space. Within a couple of months, I’d landed my first audiobook job and have been doing it non-stop ever since. It’s been 5 years now and I make my living as an audiobook narrator, have won awards and even teach an audiobook class for the Atlanta Voiceover Studio. I really owe all of this to my parents for pushing me to do this and believing it was something I’d be successful at. They are my biggest fans and it makes me incredibly happy.
Looking back, are there any resources you wish you knew about earlier in your creative journey?
There is one specific resource for Voiceover that I wish I’d taken advantage of much sooner than I did. This is specifically for SAG-AFTRA and Actor’s Equity union members.
The SAG-AFTRA Foundation (https://sagfoundation.org) is a non-profit that is free for all members of SAG-AFTRA and Equity (though it is not associated with either union) and provides all kinds of opportunities, training and support.
One particular aspect of the Foundation is the VO Lab. There are two actual physical SAG-AFTRA Foundation VO Lab studios, one in Los Angeles and one in New York. However, due to Covid, all of their programs are currently online, which has offered opportunities for many more performers across the nation to participate.
The VO Lab program provides numerous benefits, including being able to use their recording facilities, voiceover workout groups and classes in every aspect of voiceover. These classes are led by some of the most well-known and successful names in the industry, from voiceover coaches, tech experts, casting directors and producers.
Not only can you get an amazing free education with the VO Lab, it’s also a great way to network within the industry. I highly recommend any union performer who wants to explore voiceover to sign up and take advantage of what the VO Lab has to offer.
In your view, what can society to do to best support artists, creatives and a thriving creative ecosystem?
Sadly, public support for the arts in America is sorely lacking and has been under attack for decades. Policy makers consistently cut funding for the arts from city, state and national budgets and particularly from school programs. This goes against all the research which shows the tremendous individual and societal benefits created by the arts and arts education.
From a purely financial standpoint, according to the National Endowment for the Arts, every $1 in federal arts funding “leverages another $9 from other public and private sources, resulting in $500 million in matching support.”
The arts promote cultural preservation, drive tourism and enhance physical, mental and emotional health. They are a business magnet, enhance property values and foster civic participation.
As opposed to private funding, which tends to be geographically and economically biased, public funding reaches under-served communities and rural areas that might not otherwise see private arts funding.
Within the education system, the arts reduce dropout rates, increase student engagement and raise educational attainment levels. Participation in arts programs decreases youth involvement in anti-social behavior and increases childrens’ self-esteem and raise aspirations for at-risk youth.
Art connects people and bridges social, economic, cultural and political boundaries.
And at the root of it all, the arts endow life with meaning.
I truly hope we change direction and rebuild and grow public funding and support for all the arts.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://narratedby.me