Career Transition For Dancers Awards Five Recipients $10,000 to Support Their Education to Progress the Next Steps of Their Careers
New York, NY (October 14, 2025) – The Entertainment Community Fund (formerly The Actors Fund), the national human services organization supporting the needs of those working in performing arts and entertainment, is proud to announce five recipients of the 2025 Alex Dubé Scholarship Program. This year, the Entertainment Community Fund awarded $10,000 scholarships to Claire Glavin, Jacob Gutierrez, Fatima Logan-Alston, Beth Maslinoff and Betsy Schaefer.
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Through the Alex Dubé Scholarship Program, Career Transition For Dancers (a program of the Entertainment Community Fund) supports the education of dancers to build their next professional platforms. These one-time awards of up to $10,000 per recipient are distributed annually to dancers enrolled in accredited graduate degree programs to assist in tuition payment. For more information on the Alex Dubé Scholarship Program, please visit Alex Dubé Scholarship Program.
Career Transition For Dancers (CTFD) recognizes that dancers face life changes for a variety of reasons, such as injury, age and more. CTFD offers career counseling, educational scholarships and panel discussions to assist dancers in navigating life changes and exploring new opportunities.
The Dancers’ Resource, also program of the Entertainment Community Fund, was founded by Bebe Neuwirth to address the unique situation dancers face as a consequence of the physically demanding nature of their work, coupled with the significant financial challenges of earning a living in dance. The Dancers’ Resource provides individual and group support for dancers dealing with injuries; referrals for health care and health insurance; information and advocacy with workers’ compensation and disability insurance; educational seminars on injury prevention, nutrition and wellness, financial planning and more; emergency financial assistance; connection with other dancers to share experiences, resources and advice, and more.
”We extend our sincerest congratulations to this year’s incredible group of applicants and the scholarship recipients,” said Ms. Neuwirth. “We look forward to seeing all that Claire, Jacob, Fatima, Beth and Betsy achieve as they transition into the next stage of their careers.”
The 2025 Alex Dubé Scholarship Recipients:
Claire Glavin danced professionally for 10 years with notable American ballet companies including Sarasota Ballet, Oklahoma City Ballet and Indianapolis Ballet. Claire has also appeared as a principal guest artist in Festival Ballet Providence’s Concerto Barocco. During her career, she performed major works by George Balanchine, Frederick Ashton, Twyla Tharp and Sir Peter Wright. Some of her favorite roles have included a soloist in Sir Peter Wright’s Summertide, “All the Way” couple in Tharp’s Nine Sinatra Songs and a principal role in Ricardo Graziano’s In a State of Weightlessness. A medalist at the World Ballet Competition and Universal Ballet Competition, Claire trained with Pittsburgh Ballet Theatre, Joffrey Ballet and San Francisco Ballet School. Claire is currently pursuing her master’s degree in landscape architecture at the University of Pennsylvania’s Weitzman School of Design. She is especially interested in creating a meaningful connection between people and nature while designing spaces that are inclusive, sustainable and resilient. In her future career as a landscape architect, she hopes to connect communities to their environment and foster a deep sense of appreciation for our natural world.
She is so grateful that she has the chance to attend this stellar program and is grateful to the vital support provided by the Alex Dube Graduate Scholarship.
Originally from Hays, Kansas, Jacob Gutierrez is a New York City-based performing artist, most recently having appeared in Aladdin on Broadway, where he spent over 6 years performing both in the ensemble and in the title role. He has appeared on television in Dear Edward on Apple TV+, Bull on CBS, Broadway’s Leading Men: A Musical Celebration on PBS, the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade on NBC and he will be seen in Netflix’s new comedy Big Mistakes, debuting in 2026.
Jacob originally completed his Bachelor of Music degree in Musical Theatre from Oklahoma City University, followed by a Bachelor of Arts degree in Psychology during the pandemic shutdown, and he will continue his graduate studies in Clinical Psychology with a child & adolescent concentration at Montclair State University this fall. Leading his educational pursuits is the intersection of growth, curiosity and change-making. Jacob is eager to never stop growing and curious about the early life experiences one has and how that informs their social and cognitive perception of the world and how evidence-based interventions can proactively contribute to healthy identity development.
Within Montclair State University’s robust research landscape, he has been accepted as a graduate research assistant in the Autism and Neurodevelopment Lab under the clinical direction of Dr. Erin Kang, where he will be studying both neurodivergent and neurotypical youth in various research settings. Upon graduation, he hopes to go on to complete his doctoral studies in Clinical Psychology, serving both as a clinician to help others and researcher to help further advance the field of clinical psychology. He is excited to continue his graduate education and see how it informs both his future professional pursuits and artistic expression.
Fatima Logan-Alston is an interdisciplinary artist and educator who engages intergenerational communities in historical and culturally themed performances, residences and events connecting dance, live music and visual arts. Logan-Alston has performed at many national and international venues including the Sheen Center for Thought and Culture (NY), Brooklyn Academy of Music (NY), the African Burial Ground National Monument (NY), the North Carolina Senate (NC), the Grounds for Sculpture (NJ), the International Association of Blacks in Dance (Canada), and the International African Diaspora Dance Traditions Conference (Brazil). Logan-Alston’s collaborators have included Bobby Sanabria, Ntozake Shange and Valerie Capers, and she has performed in the Curtain Up Broadway Festival and at Lincoln Center Outdoors. She received her BFA in Dance and Choreography from Virginia Commonwealth University and her Master of Arts in Liberal Studies from SUNY Old Westbury. She has been an artist in residence at Long Island University Post, Hunter College and Hostos Community College. Logan-Alston is a teaching artist with Alvin Ailey Arts in Education and Community Programs and an Adjunct Professor in American Studies at SUNY Old Westbury, where she serves as the Co-Chair of the Panther Arts Collective. She was a former member of the African American Dance Ensemble under the direction of the late Chuck Davis and Forces of Nature Dance Theater, under the direction of Abdel Salaam. In 2011, she founded Threads of Truth where she performs and serves as the Artistic Director of this multidisciplinary performing arts company with the mission to transform, empower and educate multicultural and intergenerational audiences with engaging and thought-provoking performances and events that center historical truth and cultural innovation. Under her direction, Threads of Truth has performed nationally and internationally and produced concerts, festivals and community events. Logan-Alston has received fellowships and awards, including the Dance and Social Justice Fellowship from the Ford Foundation and support from the Mertz Gilmore and Howard Gilman Foundations. She is grateful to be a recipient of the Alex Dubé Graduate Scholarship as she pursues a Doctorate of Education in Community Leadership (EdD) at the College of Staten Island.
Beth Maslinoff is from Gainesville, FL. She received her professional training at The HARID Conservatory. As a student, she was awarded a Rudolf Nureyev Education Fellowship and won the silver medal in the junior division of the Russian Pointe National Youth Ballet Competition. She enjoyed a 17-year performing career with credits including Dance Alive National Ballet, Alaska Dance Theatre, Eugene Ballet and San Francisco Opera and guest engagements with Eglevsky Ballet, Aspen Santa Fe Ballet and Canadian Opera Company. She had the pleasure of participating in projects with National Choreographers Initiative, Amy Seiwert’s Imagery and competed as a semi-finalist at the Varna International Ballet Competition in Bulgaria. Beth has been a member of Ballet Memphis since 2021 and retired earlier this year after four seasons. During her time with the company, she had the opportunity to become active with the American Guild of Musical Artists, joining the AGMA Board of Governors in 2024.
Beth completed her undergraduate education alongside her performing career and graduated magna cum laude with a BA in Performing Arts from Saint Mary’s College of California. Her experience in the organizing process with AGMA ignited a broader interest in policy, strategy and management, leading her to pursue further education as she transitions from the stage. Now an incoming Master of Business Administration candidate at Dartmouth’s Tuck School of Business as a Forté Fellow and Consortium Fellow, she is eager to bring her concern for economic justice and ethical management practices to her new field of study.
Betsy Schaefer Roob (she/they) is a Minneapolis-based dancer pursuing a Master’s in Occupational Therapy. A longtime performer and collaborator in the Twin Cities dance community, she has performed most extensively with ARENA DANCES, Threads Dance Project and Rhythmically Speaking—companies working within contemporary, modern, jazz and American social dance forms.
Betsy completed her self-designed Bachelor of Individualized Studies in English, Dance and Sustainability Studies at the University of Minnesota. Alongside her dance career, she has held administrative roles in the arts, education and healthcare, including managing a children’s literacy program at a public hospital. Shortly after becoming a mother and receiving a late-in-life neurodivergence diagnosis, Betsy was drawn to Occupational Therapy as a sustainable, future-oriented career path that aligns deeply with her interests, values and strengths. She thrives when using her bodily-kinesthetic intelligence and creativity in service of others. She is particularly dedicated to supporting neurodivergent children and adults by integrating sensory awareness, mental health and trauma-informed practices into future clinical work.
Betsy is honored to receive the Alex Dubé Scholarship as she embarks on this next chapter grounded in movement, healing, advocacy and care.