Sam Fender has given the entirety of his twenty-five thousand pound Mercury Prize prize money to the Music Venues Trust, which functions to protect the United Kingdom's independent concert spaces.
The star was awarded the cheque on 16 October as his new release the album was declared the top album of the previous year.
He has opted to donate the funds to the Music Venues Trust, in appreciation of the crucial part local spots fulfilled in his initial steps.
"As an artist wouldn't be doing my current career if it weren't for all the shows I did around the region, and elsewhere, when I was beginning," said the artist. "These venues are legendary, but they are struggling."
Since the start of 2023, at least 150 of these venues have permanently closed – roughly 16 percent of the whole industry in the UK.
In the last year, major artists like the band Pulp, the group Coldplay, the singer Katy Perry and Sheeran have all supported the Music Venues Trust in its initiatives to help venues survive, by including a small levy to their admission fees, which benefits smaller concert halls.
Sam Fender also participated, collecting in excess of £100,000 on his live tour to help numerous small stages across England, Scotland, and Wales.
These funds assisted venues that were confronting possible closure due to issues caused by flooding, fires and family tragedies, as well as licensing issues, legal disputes and noise complaints.
Some locations were granted monetary aid in upgrading infrastructure and sound and lighting systems that directly benefitted performers and fans.
"The idea that money from performances in big venues supports the local stages, where it begins for artists like me, is just common sense," Fender has stated.
The musician is far from the only musician to give his Mercury Prize winnings to worthy causes.
In they received the award in the mid-90s for their album the album, frontman Cocker stated that the group would give their cash to the non-profit War Child.
That year, rapper and singer the artist split her prize across several charities, such as the NSPCC and a Sickle Cell charity.
"I also gave a thousand pounds to Highgate Newtown, to their gymnastics program, because I practiced gymnastics when I was a child and they required updated gear," she told a publication.
In recent years, the band donated their winnings to the local youth club that developed their group, as well as other grassroots music organisations.
Also winners that year they contributed their prize to a charity for MS after a friend was diagnosed the disease.
"Receiving the award was quite enough," remarked singer Small. "The money was the bonus but we didn't require the extra, because we had the honor. So our victory touched somebody else's life."
Recently, the trust announced it had saved a couple of local spots in south-east England, by bringing them into community ownership.
One venue in that area and the other in the city were purchased under the public acquisition scheme, which is supported by the arts council and supporters who acquire "stakes" in the buildings.
