Sam Fender has handed over the entirety of his twenty-five thousand pound Mercury Prize winnings to the Music Venues Trust, which works to save the UK's grassroots music venues.
Fender was given the prize on 16 October as his third album the album was named the best record of the previous year.
The musician has opted to donate the funds to the trust, in recognition of the vital role local spots fulfilled in his beginning days.
"I personally couldn't be pursuing what I am doing today if it hadn't been for all the shows I did around the North East, and beyond, when I was just getting going," said the artist. "These locations are iconic, but they are in difficulty."
Since the start of 2023, over 150 of these locations have ceased operations – roughly 16% of the whole industry in the UK.
Over the past year, major artists such as Pulp, Coldplay, Katy Perry and Ed Sheeran have all aided the trust in its attempts to help venues survive, by applying a small levy to their admission fees, which supports independent venues.
Fender also took part, generating in excess of £100,000 on his recent tour to help numerous local spots across the UK.
The money helped venues that were dealing with potential shutdown due to issues arising from flooding, fire incidents and personal losses, as well as regulatory hurdles, court cases and neighbor objections.
Other venues were granted monetary aid in modernizing amenities and technical equipment that directly benefitted musicians and audiences.
"The notion that funds from performances in major spaces helps the independent spots, where it kicks off for artists like me, is just logical," Fender has commented.
The musician is not the first artist to contribute his Mercury Prize funds to good deeds.
In Pulp received the prize in 1996 for their record Different Class, lead singer Jarvis Cocker stated that the band would give their cash to the charity the charity.
In 2002, artist she shared her award across several organizations, such as the NSPCC and a Sickle Cell organization.
"I also contributed a £1,000 to the center, to their gymnastics program, because I trained in gymnastics when I was a child and they required new equipment," she explained to the media.
In recent years, they gave their winnings to the community center that supported their group, as well as other independent music bodies.
Additionally winners that year M People gave their winnings to a charity for MS after a close contact was identified with the illness.
"Winning was ample," stated artist Heather Small. "The prize was the cherry on top but we didn't need the cherry, because we had the cake. So our winning touched another person's life."
Last week, the MVT revealed it had saved several grassroots venues in south-east England, by placing them under public stewardship.
The Joiners in the city and the other in that location were purchased under the public acquisition scheme, which is funded by Arts Council England and supporters who acquire "shares" in the venues.
