Sam Fender has handed over the entirety of his twenty-five thousand pound award prize money to the Music Venues Trust, which works to preserve the United Kingdom's small concert spaces.
The star was given the award on mid-October as his latest record his work was named the outstanding release of the previous year.
He has opted to donate the funds to the MVT, in appreciation of the essential function local spots had in his early career.
"I personally would not have achieved this success if it hadn't been for all the gigs I did around the area, and elsewhere, when I was beginning," said Sam Fender. "These spaces are iconic, but they are facing challenges."
Beginning in 2023, at least 150 of these venues have shut down – approximately 16 percent of the entire UK sector.
In the last year, major artists like the band Pulp, Coldplay, 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 ticket costs, which supports smaller concert halls.
He also participated, raising over £100k on his 2024 arena tour to support numerous grassroots venues across England, Scotland, and Wales.
These funds helped locations that were facing potential shutdown due to issues arising from water damage, fires and bereavements, as well as permit problems, court cases and neighbor objections.
Other venues received financial assistance in modernizing amenities and technical equipment that directly benefitted musicians and audiences.
"The notion that funds from performances in major spaces helps the local stages, where it kicks off for artists like me, is just common sense," the star has commented.
Fender is not the first artist to give his Mercury Prize prize money to good deeds.
When they won the trophy in 1996 for their record Different Class, lead singer Cocker stated that the band would contribute their winnings to the charity the charity.
In 2002, rapper and singer the artist divided her award across multiple charities, like the children's charity and a charity for Sickle Cell.
"Additionally, I donated a £1,000 to Highgate Newtown, to their gymnastics class, because I trained in gymnastics when I was growing up and they required better apparatus," the artist explained to a publication.
Previously, Ezra Collective donated their funds to the community center that supported their group, alongside other independent music bodies.
Also winners that year the group gave their winnings to a multiple sclerosis charity after a acquaintance was diagnosed the illness.
"Winning was sufficient," stated artist the singer. "The money was the extra but we could do without the bonus, because we had the honor. So our success touched somebody else's life."
In the past week, the MVT revealed it had protected several grassroots venues in south-east England, by bringing them into public stewardship.
The first in that area and The Croft in that location were purchased under the community ownership program, which is funded by a national body and music fans who acquire "shares" in the buildings.
