Sam Fender has donated the complete sum of his £25,000 Mercury Prize prize money to the trust for venues, which functions to save the Britain's independent concert spaces.
Fender was presented with the cheque on October 16 as his new release his work was declared the top album of the previous year.
Fender has opted to donate the funds to the Music Venues Trust, in acknowledgment of the essential function local spots had in his beginning days.
"I wouldn't be doing what I am doing today if it wasn't for all the performances I performed around the area, and elsewhere, when I was beginning," said Fender. "These locations are legendary, but they are facing challenges."
Beginning in 2023, more than 150 of these locations have shut down – approximately one-sixth of the whole industry in the UK.
Recently, top acts like Pulp, the group Coldplay, Katy Perry and Sheeran have all supported the MVT in its efforts to support the industry, by adding a small levy to their ticket prices, which benefits independent venues.
Sam Fender also joined in, collecting over £100k on his 2024 arena tour to support numerous small stages across Britain.
These funds assisted venues that were dealing with possible closure due to difficulties arising from floods, fire incidents and bereavements, as well as regulatory hurdles, court cases and noise complaints.
Other venues were granted funding support in modernizing infrastructure and technical equipment that directly benefitted artists and audiences.
"The concept that money from performances in big venues backs the independent spots, where it all starts for performers like me, is just logical," Fender has said.
He is far from the only musician to contribute his Mercury Prize funds to worthy causes.
In the band received the prize in 1996 for their album their work, frontman Jarvis Cocker stated that the act would give their cash to the non-profit the charity.
In 2002, artist the artist shared her bounty across a few organizations, including the NSPCC and a Sickle Cell charity.
"And I donated a grand to the center, to their gymnastics program, because I trained in gymnastics when I was younger and they lacked updated gear," the artist explained to the media.
In recent years, Ezra Collective donated their funds to the youth organization that supported their act, alongside other grassroots music organisations.
And the 1994 recipients they gave their award to a MS organization after a close contact was diagnosed the condition.
"The victory was sufficient," remarked artist Heather Small. "The cash was the extra but we could do without the cherry, because we had the honor. So our success touched the lives of others."
Last week, the Music Venues Trust shared it had saved a couple of grassroots venues in that region, by bringing them into public stewardship.
One venue in Southampton and the other in Bristol were acquired under the Own Our Venues initiative, which is backed by the arts council and supporters who buy "stakes" in the venues.
