First ‘BASCA Scholarship’ Winner Announced

02 October 2015 - Press release

Ivan Proctor Announced as Inaugral Recipient

 The British Academy of Songwriters Composers & Authors (BASCA) is delighted to announce the winner of the first ‘BASCA Scholarship,’ in partnership with The Academy of Contemporary Music (ACM).

First year student Ivan Proctor, studying on the Contemporary Songwriting Degree course, was announced as the recipient of the inaugural award by BASCA Board Director Tim Fraser and Songwriter Committee Member Rita Campbell who worked tirelessly for over a year putting the scholarship award together.

The presentation was made last night at the European Composer & Songwriter Alliance General Assembly Opening Concert at BASCA last night.

Ivan was chosen as a student deemed to have outstanding talent who would best benefit from the scholarship. The award will fully fund Ivan’s place on ACM’s 2-Year Songwriting degree course in its Music Industry Practice BA Hons programme.

“One of BASCA’s core objectives is to encourage the next generation of songwriters and composers,” said CEO Vick Bain, “and launching a scholarship programme with ACM is the perfect opportunity for us to help a young songwriter develop their skills.”

ACM’s Executive Chairman, Kainne Clements, says of the scholarship scheme, “We are delighted to announce the winner of the inaugural BASCA ACM Scholarship, and to be able to offer a very talented and promising student the prestigious award. There is such an obvious synergy between BASCA’s work supporting songwriters and composers and our talented songwriting students. The scholarship scheme also fits perfectly with our belief that finance and circumstances should not be a barrier to any student fulfilling their potential. Our aim is to give our talented students a truly industry-based, world-class education, in an environment in which they have genuine, regular access to esteemed professional bodies and industry leaders in order to graduate from ACM with the highest level of practical employability.”

ACM offers its students an array of industry connections and practical opportunities during their courses, which are run under an ethos of “learning by doing”. As part of this industry-based environment, where importance is placed on the need to protect rights and sign up for all the relevant collection societies, including PRS and PPL, all songwriting students will now also receive yearly Digital BASCA Memberships.

All applicants competing for the scholarship were assessed by a panel of ACM professional tutors, who then selected a short list of 8 finalists. These 8 finalists performed at a one-day event at the iconic Metropolis Studios before a panel of distinguished BASCA judges: Caron Wheeler, Tim Fraser, Rita Campbell, Marc Sylvan and Gary Osborne. Ivan was selected as the winner and the two runners-up were named as Ailsa Burtenshaw and Hannah Lloyd. All three performed their songs at the Opening concert last night along with performances from Iain Archer, Norma Jean Martine and Kate Simko.