When I started this blog over five years ago things were very, very different.  Well, mostly different.  I was planning on shipping off to New York for grad school (that’s still on the to-do list, but it’s much more complicated now); I was working full-time in order to support my theater habit; I hadn’t yet set foot in a recording studio; and I was young and thin and bodacious and ready to conquer the world with my self-described Mad Acting Skillz.  This blog was meant to be my marketing machine – it would get me loads of gigs and I would be rich and famous and living The Dream.

Since then I’ve settled down rather dramatically – I still live in Minneapolis and I have an organic kitchen garden and a bird feeder in the backyard. Not bad things, but not where I saw myself in five years, five years ago. I am now a full-time actress; I am well-acquainted with recording studios; I am no longer young and thin (have thankfully retained relative-bodaciousness, and working hard to regain once-held thin-ity); I am not rich nor famous, but I am living the dream.  Small t, small d – it’s a different dream, after all.

So if this blog isn’t about acting as an everything’s-perfect-rah-rah-rah-please-make-me-famous platform, then what is it?  It’s still about my experiences, but it’ll include more of the scandalous (have I mentioned I am so over covering for shit directors who wield too much power and not enough intelligence, or for that matter, tact?).  It’ll also be a compendium for things performance-related that I find interesting or inspiring and want to share with anyone who is willing to join me on the journey.  And it’ll be a place that allows more than 140 characters (I’m looking at you, Twitter) and more than 420 characters (ahem, Facebook).  And because I wish more people would do the same.

Viva la sala verde!

You’re reading the ramblings of an AFTRA newbie and I have a shiny little pin to prove it. I signed all the paperwork January 7 and wrote them a horrendously fat check to cover a mere ¼ of my initiation fee. I think I urped a little when I handed it over. And I know I about had a coronary when I was handed the payment schedule for the next three months.

I find it ironic for unions to require actors, on actors’ wages, to pay a crapload of money that they don’t have in an obscenely short amount of time so that they can make union wages. It brings to mind a scene in Quicksilver wherein Paul Rodriguez explains collateral to Kevin Bacon, ultimately breaking it down to “you need money to make money” (sidenote – My uncle is credited in Quicksilver as “Options Trader,” and I’m certain I’ve been in a home video here or there with my uncle, thereby solidifying my place as a mere two degrees of separation from Kevin Bacon – WIN!).

Back to my point – I will grant that I’ve gotten some good voice-over jobs lately – it’s just that they’re one-off radio spots and one-off radio spots aren’t all that lucrative if they’re only coming around once a month. I tried to impress this point upon the union’s Assistant Executive Director. His response? A story about a guy who landed a Miller Lite spot aired during Monday Night Football for the season, and how he made a load of cash and how the union initiation fee was a pittance to him. My response? “That’s great for the guy, I guess – maybe he’ll want to pay my initiation fee, too, while he’s at it – do you know his address?”

Enough kvetching… did I mention that I’m actually THRILLED to finally be Union? It’s true! I am.

As I’ve been alluding for several weeks now, after five years of service to the Walker Art Center in the position of Performing Arts Assistant, I am (sadly, yet excitedly) departing to pursue my acting career full-time. That said, we have started the official search for my replacement, allowing ample time for new-hire training before my departure December 6^th.

Below is a brief job description. If you know someone who might be interested in the position, and/or who might be aware of potential candidates, please forward along this information. If you have any questions about the position, please feel free to contact Julie Voigt, Performing Arts Senior Program Officer, at 612.375.7625 or julie.voigt@walkerart.org.

Thanks for your help in spreading the word!

WALKER ART CENTER
Job Opening

JOB TITLE: Assistant

DEPARTMENT: Performing Arts

CLASSIFICATION: Full-time, exempt

REPORTS TO: Senior Curator

HOURS: 35 hours/week, M – F with additional hours as required

RESPONSIBILITIES Provide a full-range of assistance to the Performing Arts Senior Curator, along with added assistance to the department. Duties include acting as lead contact between Performing Arts department and other departments for the oversight and coordination of general office projects (IT systems implementations, office moves, etc.); serving as first point of contact for public and collegial inquiries; serving as liaison between Senior Curator and public for incoming and outgoing communications; assisting with, and often managing, grant applications, interim reports, and final reports; coordinating project details for artist site visits; coordinating national- and international-colleague site visits; arranging Senior Curator’s and artists’ complex travel itineraries; working with box office staff to maintain comp lists and attendance records for Performing Arts programs; managing Senior Curator’s calendar; drafting and executing departmental correspondence; and providing support in executing Senior Curator’s presenting responsibilities.

QUALIFICATIONS Arts administration or related arts degree with practical experience in an arts discipline and project management preferred. Two or more years of administrative support experience required, executive-level preferred. Must have excellent written and verbal communication skills with strengths in marketing and public relations, strong decision making capability, and organizational skills with attention to details. Essential to work effectively with a wide range of people (artists, administrators, funders, community partners, patrons) and have the ability to handle multiple projects simultaneously in a fast paced department. Knowledge and experience with the Microsoft Office Suite (PC), database systems, and Internet required. Knowledge of Photoshop, InDesign, and Quark a plus.

SALARY High $20’s to Low $30’s depending on qualifications; excellent benefits

APPLICATION DEADLINE Wednesday, October 25, 2006

For consideration, send letter of interest, resume, and names of three professional references to Human Resources, Walker Art Center, 1750 Hennepin Avenue, Minneapolis, Minnesota 55403.

Posted 10/06/2006 Job line: 612.375.7588 or www.walkerart.org/jobs/

Walker Art Center is an Affirmative Action/Equal Opportunity Employer

I’m not sure how most of you get to this here greenroom (if you have just the greenroom bookmarked, or if you go through plain old www.leighahorton.com, “coming soon,” to get here). If it’s the latter, you might have already seen the source of my excitement. If you didn’t notice anything different, go back and hit the refresh button. If you generally skip the main page all-together and come straight here, quick-quick go look at www.leighahorton.com!

IT’S MY SHINY NEW SITE! IT’S HERE! Yay, yay, yayyayyayyayYAY. YAY!

Now, in all your awesome readership glory, will you check the site out on your various browsers and report back any problems? I thank you, and my web monkey thanks you. And I thank my web monkey. He deserves many head-injury-free naps under coconut trees and many bushels of bananas.

(Insert Horton Happy Dance here)