Sam Fender has given the entirety of his twenty-five thousand pound Mercury Prize prize money to the Music Venues Trust, which works to preserve the United Kingdom's grassroots concert spaces.
Fender was given the award on mid-October as his third album People Watching was chosen as the top album of the last 12 months.
Fender has chosen to give the cash to the trust, in appreciation of the essential function grassroots venues played in his early career.
"I personally would not have achieved what I am doing today if it weren't for all the shows I performed around the region, and beyond, when I was just getting going," stated the artist. "These locations are renowned, but they are facing challenges."
Since the start of 2023, at least 150 of these locations have shut down – about 16% of the whole industry in the UK.
Over the past year, top acts such as Pulp, Coldplay, the singer Katy Perry and Ed Sheeran have all backed the MVT in its initiatives to keep the scene afloat, by applying a modest fee to their admission fees, which goes to help smaller concert halls.
Fender also took part, generating over £100k on his live tour to support 38 local spots across the UK.
These funds helped locations that were confronting imminent closure due to issues arising from floods, fire incidents and personal losses, as well as permit problems, court cases and noise complaints.
Other venues were granted funding support in upgrading infrastructure and sound and lighting systems that helped musicians and concertgoers.
"The notion that funds from concerts in major spaces backs the independent spots, where it begins for performers like me, is just sensible," Sam Fender has said.
The musician is far from the only musician to give his award prize money to worthy causes.
In the band won the prize in the year 1996 for their record Different Class, lead singer Jarvis Cocker declared that the band would give their winnings to the non-profit War Child.
That year, musician the artist divided her bounty across several charities, like the NSPCC and a Sickle Cell charity.
"And I donated a £1,000 to the center, to their classes, because I did gymnastics when I was a child and they required better apparatus," the artist explained to the media.
In recent years, they contributed their winnings to the community center that nurtured their act, alongside other independent music bodies.
Also winners that year they donated their award to a charity for MS after a friend was identified with the illness.
"The victory was quite enough," remarked vocalist Heather Small. "The money was the bonus but we didn't require the extra, because we had the main prize. So our winning impacted the lives of others."
Recently, the MVT announced it had protected a couple of small stages in south-east England, by placing them under community ownership.
One venue in Southampton and the other in Bristol were acquired under the community ownership initiative, which is funded by a national body and supporters who purchase "shares" in the venues.
