Voyage Utah Magazine (VUM) approached us and wanted to interview KD about us. We were very honored and wanted to share this interview on our site page (below). This interview can also be found on their site as well. Enjoy!!!
Today we’d like to introduce you to KD Stout.
Alright, so thank you so much for sharing your story and insight with our readers. To kick things off, can you tell us a bit about how you got started?
Gaylene Knoke and I, KD Stout, started a non-profit organization 5 Star Performing Arts Corporation in the year 2002. It is a public relations organization to help talented people spread their singing, artistic, dancing, writing, acting, etc. skills beyond their own social media accounts. We believe people should not keep their talents in private, because it would be a shameful waste.
Gaylene started singing and dancing at a young age, and she even became a local singer/performer in St. George, Utah, and Mesquite, Nevada from the late 1990s to the early 2000s. She also taught singing, piano, and dancing to young children. She would also enter herself in karaoke contests and won prizes several times.
I started drawing when I was 3 years old. My grandfather had his business painting signs and murals, and my father was an artist but used it as a hobby only. While growing up, they were my art teachers. I did take art classes in junior high school and high school. About the time, I was 12 years old, I started writing stories and screenplays and creating my characters through my art.
I also loved learning about filmmaking, and while attending college, I took some classes to help me become a better videographer. Gaylene also took some singing and dancing classes during college to enhance her skills. Both of us were required to take a Voice and Diction class, and that was where we met. We knew we could help each other by making a demo. We knew that some talented people who want to spread the word about their talent skills were and are not easy, and we thought it would be a fun idea to help other people. We met a third person who was willing to help us out, and we became 3 Star Performing Arts.
We had a website that promoted young actors, auditions, and artists. The site was successful for a while. Then, we decided we better upgrade our name to 5 Star Performing Arts Corporations. We call ourselves 5SPA to be brief. A couple of years later, the three of us were dealing with personal family situations that needed our attention, and so we put the organization on hold. In the meantime, Gaylene continued singing in her church choir and teaching children singing and piano. I continued with writing stories and making my characters come to life through my art. I was also able to get a couple of my novels published, and I was also able to open my online art shop.
Now that social media has grown, Gaylene and I decided it was a good time to revive 5SPA, and help other talents (besides ourselves) to get our talents and products known. We have been also spreading information about playhouses and art museums. They have appreciated us helping them out by spreading their names. Our third person decided to retire from 5SPA to focus on her growing children and the rest of her personal life, but she still gives us moral support.
We all face challenges, but looking back would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
As I mentioned before, we just revived 5SPA and so we feel like we are back to “square one”. We are not moving as fast as we hoped, but we are hoping things will happen like they did 20 years ago.
Performers appreciated us posting up auditions that were happening around the world. We do have plans for us and working performing artists. We do have “hope”.
Alright, so let’s switch gears a bit and talk business. What should we know about your work?
Gaylene sings opera, gospel, country, and pop. She sang at special events: parties, wedding receptions, anniversary parties, funerals, and musicals.
Decades ago, she was in our local newspaper and they called her St. George’s local singing star. After winning one of the karaoke contests, she was able to record her singing and was able to use it as a demo. She was very proud of it and was excited to get the chance of having her voice recorded onto a CD. She did sound very professional.
I got a couple of novels published and can be found on Amazon: “We’re Finally On Our Own” and “The Other Side of Time: A Family’s Chronicles”. I also have an art shop through Redbubble. All of them are under KD Stout. I have always been proud of my first novel “We’re Finally On Our Own”, because I started writing it when I was 12 years old.
It is like my firstborn.
That year was also a rough school year for me, and having those characters in my head kept me going. My first novel will always mean a lot to me… I think what sets me apart from others is that I was born with a mild case of Cerebral Palsy, I didn’t run as fast as the other kids growing up. I wasn’t a good climber either. Art and writing kept me happy and gave me some positivity in my life.
If you had to, what characteristic of yours would you give the most credit to?
Talent that partakes in the performing arts: singing, acting, playing musical instruments, writing, art, and crafting.
Another thing is to spread the word about your talents and your hopes. Right now, that is the only thing to make something come across to the world if you want your talents to be recognized.
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