{"id":229331,"date":"2026-03-31T23:30:08","date_gmt":"2026-03-31T23:30:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/229331\/"},"modified":"2026-03-31T23:30:08","modified_gmt":"2026-03-31T23:30:08","slug":"five-years-of-the-ok2bx-foundation","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/229331\/","title":{"rendered":"Five years of the OK2BX Foundation"},"content":{"rendered":"

\t\t\t\t\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Photo courtesy of Maureen Womack.<\/p>\n

Oak Cliff residents Chris and Brent Bolding are preparing for their nonprofit\u2019s upcoming film festival, hitting the five-year milestone of their OK2BX Foundation.<\/a><\/p>\n

The name is a nod to the phrase \u201cIt\u2019s okay to be extraordinary!\u201d which Brent would say to his children before they went to school each day. The foundation was formed after the couple\u2019s daughter, Eleanor, died by suicide just months after coming out to her family as transgender.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen Eleanor passed, she was really extraordinary. A really extraordinary young person, very just in tune with what other people were thinking and feeling and saying and doing, and always wanted to listen to other people. Was very oriented toward bringing opposing views into the conversation and hearing what everybody had to say. And so we really just wanted to honor that,\u201d her mother Chris said.<\/p>\n

For the past five years, the foundation has held a variety of events to give participants their own opportunities to showcase how extraordinary they are.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen we first started the foundation, our idea was to really try to bring underrepresented artists into a place where they could perform and we could hear their voices,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

The inaugural event, the OK2BX Fest<\/a>, ran for two years showcasing different artists and live music. The foundation has since pivoted to focus on more film, which was inspired by Eleanor\u2019s love of movies.<\/p>\n

\u201cShe loved film. She founded the film club at her school. She wanted to go to film school. She was making films on her smartphone, just doing all the things,\u201d Chris said.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Photo courtesy of the OK2BX Foundation.<\/p>\n

The OK2BX Film Festival<\/a> highlights high school filmmakers, offering screenings and awards in various categories. Though the categories are not binding for those submitting films.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe started out with thinking that we wanted these very specific winning categories that kind of tied back to our theme,\u201d Chris said. \u201cAnd what we found is it was more important to let kids have a voice, no matter what the theme was, just to let them see their films on the big screen.\u201d<\/p>\n

Brent added that, to his knowledge, the festival is the only one in Texas that gives out an award for the LGBTQ+ category.<\/p>\n

\u201cNow I feel like it\u2019s even more important because the youth are being shut down about identifying as a different gender or that they are a different sexual orientation,\u201d Chris said. \u201cThis gives them a place still, where everyone else is silencing them, to really come forward and talk about these topics.\u201d<\/p>\n

The film festival program has grown to include a larger educational component this year, in addition to the foundation\u2019s year-round efforts to support students with scholarships.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe brought on (Southern Methodist University) as really a partner in what we\u2019re now calling our Filmmaker Futures Lab,\u201d Brent said. \u201cWe put on a college fair where we bring in college film programs from around the country, and then also put in workshops to help the kids along with their filmmaking journey.\u201d<\/p>\n

The free OK2BX Filmmakers Futures Lab<\/a> gives students the opportunity to attend panels to learn about Dallas film resources, how to get into festivals, how to get into a college film program, making independent movies, using a smartphone to make movies and workshops that teach screenwriting, sound and lighting skills.<\/p>\n

The foundation has also expanded with the formation of committees to help run the upcoming festival. That initiative aims to ensure the work can continue beyond the Boldings.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe hit the five-year mark, and we were like, \u2018This is legit. We got to build it out so that we can figure out how it stays here beyond when we leave.\u2019 And I think that has probably been the most exciting thing is people are jumping on board, and hopefully it will continue to grow,\u201d Chris said.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Film Festival is just a way for us to carry on her legacy forever.\u201d<\/p>\n

The OK2BX Film Festival & College Showcase will take place Saturday, April 11. Tickets for the film festival and awards ceremony are available for $15.<\/a> The college showcase is free<\/a>. Those who register here will receive a free lunch token.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Photo courtesy of Maureen Womack. Oak Cliff residents Chris and Brent Bolding are preparing for their nonprofit\u2019s upcoming…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":229332,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[102,104,103],"class_list":{"0":"post-229331","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-dallas","8":"tag-dallas","9":"tag-dallas-headlines","10":"tag-dallas-news"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/229331","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=229331"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/229331\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/229332"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=229331"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=229331"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=229331"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}