Sam Fender has handed over the entirety of his £25k Mercury Prize prize money to the Music Venues Trust, which works to save the United Kingdom's independent live music spots.
He was awarded the prize on October 16 as his latest record People Watching was named the outstanding release of the previous year.
He has opted to donate the funds to the trust, in appreciation of the vital role grassroots venues had in his beginning days.
"I personally wouldn't be doing my current career if it wasn't for all the gigs I did around the area, and further afield, when I was just getting going," remarked Fender. "These spaces are legendary, but they are struggling."
Since the start of 2023, at least 150 of these spaces have shut down – about one-sixth of the entire UK sector.
Over the past year, well-known musicians such as Pulp, the group Coldplay, Katy Perry and Sheeran have all aided the Music Venues Trust in its initiatives to help venues survive, by adding a minor surcharge to their ticket costs, which supports local stages.
Sam Fender also joined in, raising over £100k on his live tour to support 38 grassroots venues across Britain.
The money helped locations that were dealing with possible closure due to challenges arising from floods, fire incidents and bereavements, as well as licensing issues, court cases and noise complaints.
Other venues were granted monetary aid in modernizing facilities and technical equipment that directly benefitted performers and fans.
"The notion that revenue from shows in big venues backs the local stages, where it all starts for performers like me, is just common sense," Fender has said.
The musician is not the first artist to donate his Mercury Prize winnings to charitable organizations.
In they earned the award in the year 1996 for their release Different Class, lead singer the singer declared that the group would give their winnings to the non-profit the charity.
During 2002, rapper and singer she shared her award among several organizations, like the NSPCC and a Sickle Cell organization.
"I also contributed a thousand pounds to the center, to their gymnastics class, because I did gymnastics when I was growing up and they required updated gear," the artist shared with outlets.
Previously, the band donated their winnings to the community center that supported their act, alongside other grassroots music organisations.
Additionally the 1994 recipients M People contributed their prize to a MS organization after a close contact was diagnosed the disease.
"Receiving the award was sufficient," said singer Small. "The prize was the cherry on top but we didn't require the bonus, because we had the cake. So our victory touched the lives of others."
Recently, the MVT announced it had saved a couple of local spots in south-east England, by bringing them into local control.
The Joiners in the city and the other in that location were acquired under the Own Our Venues initiative, which is funded by Arts Council England and music fans who acquire "shares" in the buildings.
