Sam Fender has given the entirety of his £25,000 Mercury Prize prize money to the MVT, which operates to preserve the UK's small concert spaces.
He was presented with the cheque on October 16 as his third album People Watching was chosen as the outstanding release of the previous year.
Fender has opted to hand the money over to the Music Venues Trust, in recognition of the crucial part small stages fulfilled in his initial steps.
"I would not have achieved this success if it wasn't for all the gigs I did around the area, and elsewhere, when I was beginning," stated Sam Fender. "These locations are legendary, but they are in difficulty."
Since the start of 2023, more than 150 of these venues have ceased operations – about one-sixth of the total UK scene.
Recently, top acts such as the band Pulp, Coldplay, Katy Perry and Ed Sheeran have all backed the trust in its initiatives to help venues survive, by adding a small levy to their admission fees, which supports local stages.
Fender also participated, raising in excess of £100,000 on his recent tour to support thirty-eight small stages across the UK.
The donation helped locations that were facing possible closure due to issues arising from water damage, fire incidents and bereavements, as well as regulatory hurdles, conflicts and neighbor objections.
Additional spaces received monetary aid in upgrading facilities and gear that positively impacted artists and fans.
"The concept that funds from shows in big venues helps the smaller venues, where it kicks off for musicians like me, is just common sense," Sam Fender has stated.
Fender is not the first artist to contribute his honor funds to charitable organizations.
Back when the band received the prize in 1996 for their record Different Class, lead singer Jarvis Cocker announced that the group would donate their winnings to the charity War Child.
During 2002, artist the artist divided her bounty across several organizations, such as the children's charity and a Sickle Cell charity.
"And I contributed a thousand pounds to my local community centre, to their gymnastics class, because I trained in gymnastics when I was growing up and they required new equipment," the artist explained to outlets.
In recent years, Ezra Collective donated their prize money to the community center that supported their act, as well as other independent music bodies.
Additionally winners that year M People donated their award to a MS organization after a friend was found to have the condition.
"Receiving the award was quite enough," stated singer Small. "The cash was the cherry on top but we could do without the bonus, because we had the honor. So our victory touched the lives of others."
Recently, the Music Venues Trust announced it had protected a couple of grassroots venues in that region, by bringing them into public stewardship.
The Joiners in that area and the second in the city were bought under the Own Our Venues initiative, which is funded by the arts council and music fans who buy "ownership units" in the properties.
