Musically Multi-Talented: Charlotte Horton

By: Kari Monk

Music and its festivals have taken our generation and flipped it on its head. You can't go on Facebook, or even Google Plus—whoever the hell uses that anyways—without seeing someone posting, reposting, and adding new songs to playlists. Fortunately for us students at Syracuse University, we have musical guardian angels that go above and beyond to bring artists to perform at events and venues such as Juice Jam, Mayfest, and the Westcott Theater. Charlotte Horton is one of the few who takes the time to invest in the music industry—and make all the fun happen.

L.A.-born and raised, Charlotte knows way more about music than my boring upstate self will ever understand. If you believe that opportunities come to those who sit on their asses and repost shit on SoundCloud, then you truly have your head in the (sound) clouds—see what I did there? As a Writing major, Charlotte began writing articles for electronic dance music website The Untz. With a little help from her editors and a broadening taste in music, she started to make a name for herself.

Charlotte started off as a volunteer for Insomniac Events in Ground Control, a program that began after a death at Electric Daisy Carnival in L.A.. Her work paid off—Horton is now an American tour promoter for Insomniac, focusing primarily on electronic music events and, in her words, “working the 2014 season legit this time.” Insomniac takes event planning to a whole new level, organizing a number of major dance music festivals—among them student favorites like Electronic Daisy Carnival, Beyond Wonderland, and Nocturnal Wonderland.

Charlotte’s passion for the music industry, along with her undergraduate education in Writing, has given her the ability to perform multiple jobs. She has also taken on a marketing role for the Westcott, our beloved, broken-down, alcohol and cig-infested venue here in Syracuse. At the Westcott, Charlotte takes the photos at each event that inevitably pop up on your Facebook feed. If you can look at me with a straight face and say that you are not even the slightest bit jealous of Charlotte’s chance to photograph the DJs who perform at Syracuse venues—and interview them—then you truly don’t know envy. She has interviewed everyone from Big Gigantic to Marcus Schulz to Ferry Corsten. After traveling to all types of music festivals—think EDC NY, Chicago, Las Vegas, Electric Forest, Camp Bisco,Veld, and more—her knowledge of music has only expanded.

I have never met an individual so passionate about their chosen career path. I can't help but be envious of someone living her dream while I “major hop.” Charlotte not only blazes the trail, she dances on it to the beat.