Sam Fender has given the entirety of his £25k Mercury Prize cash to the Music Venues Trust, which functions to preserve the United Kingdom's independent concert spaces.
The star was presented with the prize on October 16 as his new release his work was chosen as the outstanding release of the previous year.
The musician has opted to give the cash to the trust, in appreciation of the essential function local spots had in his beginning days.
"I would not have achieved what I am doing today if it weren't for all the gigs I performed around the North East, and further afield, when I was beginning," said Sam Fender. "These spaces are legendary, but they are struggling."
Since the start of 2023, over 150 of these venues have shut down – approximately 16 percent of the whole industry in the UK.
Over the past year, major artists like the band Pulp, the group Coldplay, Katy Perry and Ed Sheeran have all aided the Music Venues Trust in its initiatives to help venues survive, by applying a minor surcharge to their ticket prices, which supports independent venues.
Sam Fender also participated, raising over £100k on his live tour to support numerous grassroots venues across the UK.
These funds assisted venues that were confronting possible closure due to challenges caused by flooding, blazes and bereavements, as well as licensing issues, conflicts and neighbor objections.
Some locations obtained financial assistance in modernizing infrastructure and sound and lighting systems that directly benefitted musicians and fans.
"The idea that funds from performances in major spaces backs the independent spots, where it all starts for performers like me, is just common sense," the star has said.
Fender is not the first artist to contribute his award prize money to worthy causes.
In they won the award in 1996 for their release Different Class, vocalist the singer announced that the band would donate their winnings to the organization the charity.
That year, musician she shared her award between a few organizations, like the children's charity and a Sickle Cell organization.
"I also gave a thousand pounds to my local community centre, to their gymnastics class, because I trained in gymnastics when I was growing up and they needed better apparatus," she explained to a publication.
Previously, they contributed their winnings to the youth organization that developed their act, alongside other grassroots music organisations.
Additionally the 1994 recipients they contributed their award to a MS organization after a friend was found to have the illness.
"The victory was quite enough," said artist Small. "The cash was the bonus but we didn't require the cherry, because we had the main prize. So our winning affected somebody else's life."
Recently, the MVT announced it had rescued two small stages in that region, by placing them under public stewardship.
One venue in that area and the other in Bristol were acquired under the public acquisition scheme, which is supported by a national body and enthusiasts who acquire "ownership units" in the properties.
