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Elsa Thurley Announced as BASCA Scholarship Winner

06 Aug 2018

This post was written more than two years ago. The content or information below may no longer be accurate.

ACM’s exclusive BASCA 2018 Scholarship recipient is announced as Elsa Thurley.

ACM is extremely proud to announce Elsa Thurley as its 2018 BASCA Scholarship recipient. Worth up to £27,000, Elsa will now commence her fully funded degree – BA (Hons) in Commercial Songwriting – at ACM’s London campus.

“I’m so grateful to have been given this amazing opportunity, the other finalists were incredible so to have been chosen as this year’s recipient is a real honour”
Elsa Thurley

Every year ACM is honoured to run five exclusive Scholarships including the prestigious BASCA Scholarship. This year three finalists, Sam Deed (Dunstable), Elsa Thurley (Peckham) and Leoni Jane Kennedy (Thornton Cleveleys) were chosen by a BASCA panel to perform at its annual Summer Party where the industries top songwriters gather to network.

First up to perform was Sam Deed who will be joining ACM Guildford for the Creative Artist Degree route. Delivering a pure and punchy pop sound, Sam’s track ‘Heaven’ went down a storm with the crowd of music aficionados. Next up was Elsa who performed a soulful acoustic number ‘Chasing Time’ which really drew the audience in, captivating them with her soft vocals. Finally, Leoni took to the stage performing fingerstyle guitar impeccably matching her strong vocals and catchy song, ‘Wait’.

“As always, the competition was very tough as the standard of all of the performers was so high. Elsa stood out to us as her song had a slight edge and X factor about it. Having worked with lots of talented artists and writers that have passed through ACM’s doors, I know that Elsa is in safe hands and know that this Scholarship will be an excellent platform for her to launch her career.”
Crispin Hunt BASCA Chairman

After a short but tough deliberation, BASCA’s Chairman Crispin Hunt announced Elsa as this year’s recipient.

“I’m incredibly excited to start working with all of our finalists at ACM in September. All of the performances were outstanding – they should be very pleased with themselves!”
Kaya Herstad-Carney ACM Artist Development Tutor

As innovators in the sector offering an unparalleled creative industries education, ACM believes strongly that its course offering should be accessible to all and welcomes those with passion, dedication and drive to apply and join its next generation of the industry. In order to ensure that education is affordable, ACM is proud to offer five Scholarships amounting to £130,000 worth of education given away annually. This is in addition to the £1.2 million per year offered in the form of bursaries.


If you want to join ACM’s next generation of the creative industries there is still time to level up and apply through clearing by calling the Admissions Team on 01483 500 841 or visit www.acm.ac.uk/open-days to book a place on an ACM Open Day today.

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