Sam Fender has donated the full amount of his £25,000 Mercury Prize prize money to the Music Venues Trust, which functions to protect the United Kingdom's grassroots live music spots.
Fender was awarded the cheque on 16 October as his new release his work was chosen as the best record of the previous year.
The musician has opted to give the cash to the trust, in appreciation of the crucial part local spots had in his beginning days.
"As an artist wouldn't be doing this success if it hadn't been for all the gigs I did around the region, and beyond, when I was just getting going," said Sam Fender. "These locations are legendary, but they are in difficulty."
Since the start of 2023, at least 150 of these venues have permanently closed – approximately 16% of the whole industry in the UK.
Recently, well-known musicians such as the band Pulp, the group Coldplay, Katy Perry and Sheeran have all aided the Music Venues Trust in its initiatives to help venues survive, by applying a minor surcharge to their ticket prices, which benefits local stages.
Sam Fender also joined in, collecting more than £100,000 on his recent tour to assist thirty-eight grassroots venues across the UK.
These funds supported spaces that were facing potential shutdown due to difficulties arising from flooding, fire incidents and family tragedies, as well as regulatory hurdles, court cases and sound issues.
Some locations obtained financial assistance in modernizing facilities and sound and lighting systems that helped performers and concertgoers.
"The notion that funds from shows in major spaces supports the smaller venues, where it kicks off for performers like me, is just common sense," Fender has said.
The musician is far from the only musician to donate his Mercury Prize winnings to charitable organizations.
When they won the award in the mid-90s for their album their work, lead singer Cocker stated that the group would give their cash to the charity the charity.
That year, musician Ms Dynamite shared her prize across multiple good causes, such as the NSPCC and a Sickle Cell charity.
"I also donated a thousand pounds to Highgate Newtown, to their gymnastics program, because I did gymnastics when I was younger and they lacked better apparatus," the artist told a publication.
In recent years, the band gave their prize money to the youth organization that developed their group, in addition to other independent music bodies.
Additionally winners that year they donated their award to a charity for MS after a acquaintance was diagnosed the disease.
"Receiving the award was ample," remarked artist Heather Small. "The prize was the extra but we didn't need the extra, because we had the cake. So our victory touched somebody else's life."
Recently, the trust announced it had saved several grassroots venues in south-east England, by placing them under community ownership.
One venue in that area and the other in that location were acquired under the Own Our Venues scheme, which is supported by the arts council and music fans who acquire "stakes" in the venues.
