Sam Fender has given the complete sum of his twenty-five thousand pound Mercury Prize cash to the MVT, which operates to preserve the Britain's independent live music spots.
Fender was awarded the cheque on 16 October as his third album the album was chosen as the outstanding release of the past year.
The musician has decided to give the cash to the trust, in acknowledgment of the essential function small stages had in his early career.
"As an artist wouldn't be doing this success if it weren't for all the gigs I performed around the North East, and further afield, when I was just getting going," stated Sam Fender. "These locations are legendary, but they are struggling."
Since the start of 2023, more than 150 of these spaces have ceased operations – approximately 16 percent of the whole industry in the UK.
In the last year, top acts like Pulp, Coldplay, the singer Katy Perry and Ed Sheeran have all supported the MVT in its initiatives to support the industry, by including a modest fee to their admission fees, which goes to help independent venues.
Fender also joined in, collecting in excess of £100,000 on his recent tour to help 38 local spots across England, Scotland, and Wales.
The donation supported spaces that were dealing with potential shutdown due to issues stemming from water damage, fire incidents and personal losses, as well as regulatory hurdles, court cases and neighbor objections.
Additional spaces were granted monetary aid in modernizing amenities and gear that helped artists and concertgoers.
"The idea that funds from concerts in major spaces backs the independent spots, where it all starts for performers like me, is just logical," Fender has stated.
Fender is among several artists to give his award prize money to worthy causes.
When the band received the award in the mid-90s for their album their work, lead singer the singer announced that the act would donate their cash to the organization War Child.
In 2002, musician the artist split her bounty across multiple good causes, like the children's charity and a Sickle Cell charity.
"And I donated a grand to the center, to their gymnastics class, because I trained in gymnastics when I was younger and they needed better apparatus," she shared with a publication.
Previously, the band contributed their prize money to the local youth club that developed their band, in addition to other independent music bodies.
Also winners that year the group donated their winnings to a charity for MS after a friend was identified with the illness.
"Receiving the award was quite enough," remarked artist Small. "The cash was the extra but we didn't need the bonus, because we had the main prize. So our winning affected another person's life."
In the past week, the Music Venues Trust shared it had rescued a couple of local spots in south-east England, by placing them under community ownership.
The first in the city and the other in that location were purchased under the community ownership scheme, which is backed by a national body and music fans who purchase "stakes" in the properties.
