Sam Fender has donated the complete sum of his £25,000 award prize money to the MVT, which operates to save the Britain's small concert spaces.
Fender was given the cheque on October 16 as his new release his work was named the outstanding release of the last 12 months.
He has opted to give the cash to the MVT, in acknowledgment of the vital role local spots played in his beginning days.
"I personally wouldn't be doing my current career if it weren't for all the gigs I played around the North East, and elsewhere, when I was beginning," stated Sam Fender. "These locations are legendary, but they are facing challenges."
From early 2023 onward, at least 150 of these spaces have shut down – roughly 16% of the whole industry in the UK.
In the last year, well-known musicians like Pulp, Coldplay, the singer Katy Perry and Ed Sheeran have all supported the Music Venues Trust in its attempts to help venues survive, by including a minor surcharge to their admission fees, which supports smaller concert halls.
Sam Fender also took part, collecting over £100k on his 2024 arena tour to help 38 grassroots venues across the UK.
The money helped spaces that were facing imminent closure due to challenges arising from flooding, fire incidents and personal losses, as well as regulatory hurdles, conflicts and neighbor objections.
Additional spaces obtained monetary aid in modernizing amenities and gear that positively impacted performers and fans.
"The idea that revenue from concerts in big venues helps the local stages, where it kicks off for performers like me, is just logical," Sam Fender has stated.
He is not the first artist to contribute his Mercury Prize winnings to charitable organizations.
Back when Pulp earned the trophy in 1996 for their record their work, frontman Jarvis Cocker declared that the band would give their cash to the charity War Child.
During 2002, musician she divided her prize across multiple organizations, including the NSPCC and a Sickle Cell charity.
"Additionally, I gave a thousand pounds to Highgate Newtown, to their classes, because I practiced gymnastics when I was a child and they lacked better apparatus," the artist explained to the media.
Two years ago, they donated their prize money to the youth organization that supported their act, in addition to other local music groups.
Additionally the 1994 recipients M People gave their winnings to a charity for MS after a close contact was diagnosed the illness.
"Winning was sufficient," remarked vocalist the singer. "The prize was the cherry on top but we could do without the cherry, because we had the main prize. So our success touched the lives of others."
Recently, the MVT announced it had rescued a couple of small stages in that region, by placing them under local control.
The first in Southampton and the other in that location were bought under the community ownership program, which is supported by Arts Council England and supporters who purchase "stakes" in the venues.
