Person
Biography
Leigh Boone was a Production Intern at the Pillow in 2004 who hailed from Houston, Texas. While bicycling to work at the Houston Center for Photography in March 2009, she was caught in a collision between two fire trucks and sustained a broken clavicle and severe swelling in her brain. She held on for almost two weeks, but was finally taken off life support and passed away the next day at the age of 29. She had a degree in theater arts from the University of Texas at Austin, and had completed a year-long internship at the Juilliard School before coming to the Pillow. She pursued a number of other professional opportunities before moving back to Houston in 2007 to be closer to her family. Leigh's employers at the Houston Center of Photography affirmed that her warm spirit left a lasting impression at HCP and on the Houston arts community at large. In recognition of how much she valued her internships, family and friends have established the Leigh Bess Boone Foundation to award stipends for qualified applicants in either the performing or visual arts, in hopes this will help encourage and thus further their careers and pathways through the arts.