Sam Fender has given the complete sum of his £25,000 Mercury Prize cash to the Music Venues Trust, which functions to protect the United Kingdom's small concert spaces.
He was presented with the award on mid-October as his third album his work was named the best record of the previous year.
The musician has opted to give the cash to the trust, in acknowledgment of the vital role small stages had in his initial steps.
"As an artist wouldn't be doing what I am doing today if it hadn't been for all the shows I performed around the region, and further afield, when I was just getting going," stated the artist. "These locations are renowned, but they are struggling."
Since the start of 2023, over 150 of these spaces have ceased operations – approximately 16% of the total UK scene.
Over the past year, major artists such as Pulp, the group Coldplay, Katy Perry and Sheeran have all aided the trust in its attempts to help venues survive, by including a minor surcharge to their admission fees, which supports independent venues.
He also joined in, raising more than £100,000 on his 2024 arena tour to assist numerous local spots across Britain.
The donation assisted venues that were dealing with possible closure due to issues caused by flooding, fires and family tragedies, as well as licensing issues, conflicts and neighbor objections.
Additional spaces received monetary aid in modernizing facilities and sound and lighting systems that positively impacted artists and concertgoers.
"The idea that money from performances in big venues supports the local stages, where it kicks off for musicians like me, is just logical," the star has commented.
Fender is not the first artist to contribute his honor funds to charitable organizations.
Back when the band won the prize in 1996 for their album the album, frontman the singer declared that the group would give their cash to the charity War Child.
That year, artist the artist shared her prize among multiple organizations, like the NSPCC and a Sickle Cell organization.
"And I contributed a grand to Highgate Newtown, to their gymnastics program, because I trained in gymnastics when I was younger and they lacked better apparatus," she shared with the media.
In recent years, they gave their prize money to the youth organization that developed their act, alongside other grassroots music organisations.
Additionally the 1994 recipients the group gave their award to a charity for MS after a close contact was identified with the illness.
"The victory was sufficient," said singer Small. "The money was the extra but we didn't require the extra, because we had the main prize. So our success affected somebody else's life."
Last week, the Music Venues Trust revealed it had saved a couple of grassroots venues in that region, by placing them under public stewardship.
One venue in the city and The Croft in Bristol were bought under the Own Our Venues scheme, which is supported by the arts council and supporters who buy "shares" in the venues.
