Fulfilling the Vision Inc.

With your help, we will be able to print the exciting new edition of Fulfilling the Vision (Volume 2). This beautiful coffee table book will feature dozens of portraits and interviews with graduates from the highly acclaimed Booker T. Washington High School for the Performing and Visual Arts in Dallas, Texas (aka Arts Magnet High School).

Where have they gone? How have they changed the world? Read the stories of Norah Jones, Erykah Badu, Roy Hargrove, Edie Brickell, David Yaffe and many more of the successful alums in the ultimate guide to the creative life and where an arts education can lead.

I am Susan K. Elliott Hamm, a book author who specializes in interviewing artists. My daughter graduated from Booker T. Washington High School for the Performing & Visual Arts in Dallas and now works in the film industry. I also spent two years as president of the Theater Guild and have a great affection for the school and its students.

My partner on this project is Vonda Klimaszewski, a portrait photographer and '83 alum of Arts Magnet/Booker T. For years she took senior portraits and students often performed for her. She began to wonder where they ended up after graduation. We know about the school's most famous grads, but what about others who might not be as widely known? Vonda wanted to track down these artists and create a book about their creative journeys.

Together we teamed up to tell the stories of interesting and successful grads from the school who inspire the world with their talent. Volume 1 of Fulfilling the Vision came out in 2017 (featuring full profiles of 67 grads) and now it's time for an update. We have a lot of new stories to tell! When we had finished about half of the interviews, we reached out for printing costs. We were shocked to get quotes of up to 5X what the first book cost! Yikes! Because of these skyrocketing expenses, we really need your support to be able to go to print.

Thanks to a first round of generous donors, we traveled to New York City, Los Angeles, and all over Dallas for interviews and photo shoots. We visited everywhere from music studios to movie sets, Broadway theaters to art galleries, dance shows to artist studios — tracking down stories that will inspire and honor creatives who were launched from Dallas.

These fascinating stories for the next book come from all over the world:

• Miguel Cervantes—Playing the lead in Hamilton on Broadway

• Norah Jones—Touring worldwide to sold-out crowds

• Wendy Calhoun—Producing/writing Empire and other tv shows in Hollywood

• McKenna Birmingham—Juilliard grad dancing at the Metropolitan Opera

• Scott Westerfeld—Author of the best-selling Uglies book series, recently made into a Netflix movie

• Michael Thomas—Helping non-profits succeed in Dallas and beyond

• Jim Abbott—Wicked composer/musician in demand for stars such as Elton John and Aretha Franklin

• Erykah Badu—Fashion and neo-soul music icon

• Cedric Neal—Wowing audiences in London West End musicals

• Jazzmeia Horn—Jazz singer touring worldwide

• M.K. Semos—Running art galleries in NYC, London and Dallas

• Aaron Comess—Racking up 22M listeners and 88M streams in 184 countries as drummer for Spin Doctors

• Edie Brickell—Singer/songwriter currently collaborating on a musical for Booker T.’s 50th anniversary

• David Yaffe—Best-selling biographer of Joni Mitchell and other musicians

• Jacob Climer—Costume designer and Creative Director/Designer for the million-dollar Texas Rose Festival as well as major operas around the country

• Zac Baird—Music director for one of the world’s biggest concert tours; and

• Leslie Martinez—Winner of a $50,000 LatinX award from the Mellon and Ford Foundations

…and so many more!

If you are an Arts Magnet/Booker T. fan or art lover, you can help us get this new book of stories printed in time for the school’s 50th anniversary. Nothing else tells the story of Dallas art talent like this book!

Booker T. grads find their way into all kinds of careers, such as artificial intelligence robot designer (Dr. David Hanson); helping the homeless (Titia Owens); actor/entertainment lawyer (Karr Washington); and teachers/educators (Robert Weiss, Kayli House, Garry Williams; Guinea Bennett Price). They work as collage artists (Sara Cardona); glass artists (Simon Waranch); sculptors (Shawn Smith, Emanuel Gillespie, Heather Gorham); museum curators (Pilar Tompkins Rivas); and as dancers/choreographers (Bridget Moore, Chris Vo, Teresa Espinosa), to name just a few of our interview subjects.

Can you believe that nearly five decades of talent and professionalism have been nurtured at Booker T./Arts Magnet? With your support, we can complete this beautiful coffee-table book to celebrate our amazing grads and how they enrich the world. Donate now to help us to get this wonderful book off of our computers and on the way to the printer. Large or small, your financial contribution will help honor Booker T. grads and inspire future artists. Thank you!

You can make a difference by donating today to Fulfilling the Vision Inc.