Sam Fender has donated the complete sum of his £25,000 Mercury Prize winnings to the Music Venues Trust, which operates to protect the Britain's small concert spaces.
He was awarded the cheque on mid-October as his new release the album was declared the best record of the last 12 months.
The musician has opted to give the cash to the MVT, in acknowledgment of the crucial part local spots played in his beginning days.
"As an artist would not have achieved what I am doing today if it hadn't been for all the performances I performed around the North East, and further afield, when I was beginning," stated Sam Fender. "These spaces are legendary, but they are facing challenges."
From early 2023 onward, at least 150 of these locations have permanently closed – approximately one-sixth of the entire UK sector.
In the last year, major artists such as the band Pulp, Coldplay, the singer Katy Perry and Sheeran have all aided the MVT in its efforts to help venues survive, by including a small levy to their admission fees, which goes to help independent venues.
Fender also participated, generating more than £100,000 on his 2024 arena tour to assist thirty-eight local spots across the UK.
The donation helped spaces that were dealing with imminent closure due to difficulties stemming from floods, fire incidents and personal losses, as well as permit problems, court cases and noise complaints.
Additional spaces were granted monetary aid in modernizing infrastructure and technical equipment that helped performers and fans.
"The idea that revenue from performances in big venues helps the smaller venues, where it kicks off for performers like me, is just sensible," Sam Fender has commented.
The musician is far from the only musician to give his honor prize money to good deeds.
Back when the band won the prize in the mid-90s for their release their work, lead singer Cocker declared that the act would donate their cash to the non-profit the charity.
In 2002, artist she divided her bounty between several organizations, such as the NSPCC and a charity for Sickle Cell.
"Additionally, I gave a thousand pounds to the center, to their gymnastics class, because I practiced gymnastics when I was a child and they required better apparatus," the artist shared with the media.
In recent years, they gave their winnings to the community center that nurtured their band, as well as other grassroots music organisations.
Additionally 1994 winners they gave their prize to a multiple sclerosis charity after a close contact was diagnosed the disease.
"The victory was sufficient," remarked artist the singer. "The prize was the bonus but we didn't require the extra, because we had the main prize. So our victory impacted the lives of others."
Recently, the Music Venues Trust revealed it had saved a couple of grassroots venues in that region, by bringing them into community ownership.
The first in Southampton and the second in that location were acquired under the Own Our Venues initiative, which is funded by the arts council and supporters who buy "ownership units" in the properties.
