Welcome to the
BKF Performing Arts Foundation
Photo credit: Robin Phillips
2025 Scholarship Awardee
Xander Allen
Lakeland’s talented singer, actor, and dancer Xander Allen, 18, a Harrison School for the Arts graduate, won the 2025 Betsye Kay Finch Performing Arts Foundation’s scholarship.
Xander performed in numerous Harrison School for the Arts musicals, including Shrek the Musical, Cinderella, and West Side Story. He has also performed, directed, and choreographed several musicals at local community theatres.
Xander’s passion for musical theatre was sparked at age 5 when he sang in Little Drummer Boy at Lakeland’s Grace Church. Since then, he has chased song, music, and dance. In 2024, Tampa’s Straz Center for the Performing Arts awarded Xander as a Top-12 Best Performer of the Year.
On May 2nd, Xander received the $3,500 BKF Foundation’s scholarship at a celebration at Lakeland’s Hollis Garden. Xander will pursue a BFA in Musical Theatre at the University of Central Florida in Orlando this fall.
Our Goal
The Betsye Kay Finch Foundation’s primary goal is to raise funds each year to award a scholarship to a Polk County high school senior who aims to major in performing arts at a postsecondary institution. However, the BKF Foundation does much more than award scholarships.
We support the arts and enrich the community.
Below two former scholarship winners illustrate how the BKF Foundation has enriched their lives.
Watch as past BKF Scholarship winners Oshea Darrington (2022) and Janiyah McAllister (2023) discuss the impact of dance and musical theatre on their lives with Ashleigh Massey, a noted Lakeland singer. Oshea returns to Millikin University in Decatur, Illinois as a sophomore and Janiyah is a freshman at Baldwin Wallace University Music Conservatory, in Berea, Ohio.
Also, Chloe Lanham, a Highland School of Dance student and freshman at Florida Southern College, showcases her stunning dance talent. Rebecca Renfroe-Borneman, gifted performer and composer of our theme song, "Dancing in the Tune," is accompanied by Ashleigh Massey.
“Listen to the rhythm, dance in the tune.”
-Betsye Kay Finch
What We Do
Betsye Kay Finch Performing Arts Foundation, Inc. was founded in 2019 to honor Betsye Kay Finch, a jazz, tap, and ballet dancer and a beloved Lakeland dance teacher who directed the Betsye Kay School of Dance for three decades. Launched by her daughter, Alexis Rocker, to keep her mother’s exuberant spirit and joy of dance alive, the BKF Performing Arts Foundation, a registered 501(c)(3) nonprofit, offers annual scholarships to high school seniors aspiring to pursue an education in dance or musical theatre. “This is a tribute to our mother whose entire life was inspired by dance and musical theatre,” says Alexis Rocker. “We’re working hard to raise funds and award scholarships to high school seniors in the Lakeland area aiming to pursue education in the arts, which our mother so loved.”
This year, the BKF Foundation will offer a scholarship to an aspiring performing artist and sponsor annual fundraising events to grow its funding base. To support this scholarship fund, please consider donating today. Donate here. Thank you!
Mission Statement
Betsye Kay Finch Performing Arts Foundation funds scholarships for deserving high school seniors majoring in dance or musical theatre at post-secondary institutions.
Vision Statement
Betsye Kay Finch scholarships will give awardees the ability to pursue their passion in the performing arts and to make an impactful contribution to the quality of life. The scholarships will target graduating high school seniors in the Lakeland, Florida, area.
Where it all began...
On what would have been Betsye Kay's 93rd birthday, October 25, 2019, Betsye Kay Finch Performing Arts Foundation was launched!
To celebrate, Alexis and Al hosted a lunch at their mother's "old stomping grounds", Sardi's, in New York City. Here are some highlights of that afternoon. Please enjoy!
In Memoriam
Edie Yates Henderson, Treasurer
passed on November 10, 2020
The board of directors express our profound sadness over the loss of our dear friend and Foundation Treasurer, Edie. We were blessed with her exceptional commitment to the Lakeland community, and her deep love and caring for her friends and family. As Treasurer of the Betsye Kay Finch Performing Arts Foundation, Edie generously contributed not only her accounting expertise, but her enthusiasm, energy, and wonderful ideas. For this we will be forever grateful.