Sam Fender has given the complete sum of his twenty-five thousand pound Mercury Prize prize money to the trust for venues, which operates to protect the United Kingdom's small live music spots.
Fender was presented with the prize on mid-October as his latest record his work was chosen as the best record of the past year.
The musician has opted to give the cash to the trust, in acknowledgment of the essential function small stages had in his initial steps.
"As an artist wouldn't be doing my current career if it wasn't for all the shows I performed around the region, and further afield, when I was beginning," said Sam Fender. "These spaces are iconic, but they are in difficulty."
Since the start of 2023, more than 150 of these spaces have shut down – roughly 16 percent of the entire UK sector.
In the last year, top acts such as Pulp, Coldplay, the singer Katy Perry and Sheeran have all supported the Music Venues Trust in its attempts to keep the scene afloat, by applying a modest fee to their admission fees, which goes to help independent venues.
Sam Fender also participated, generating more than £100,000 on his recent tour to assist 38 local spots across England, Scotland, and Wales.
The donation assisted locations that were dealing with possible closure due to challenges caused by floods, fire incidents and personal losses, as well as permit problems, legal disputes and neighbor objections.
Additional spaces obtained financial assistance in modernizing infrastructure and gear that helped musicians and audiences.
"The idea that revenue from shows in major spaces backs the independent spots, where it kicks off for musicians like me, is just sensible," Sam Fender has said.
The musician is not the first artist to contribute his Mercury Prize funds to good deeds.
Back when they received the prize in 1996 for their release Different Class, vocalist Cocker announced that the group would contribute their prize money to the non-profit War Child.
In 2002, rapper and singer the artist split her award between several charities, like the NSPCC and a charity for Sickle Cell.
"And I donated a grand to my local community centre, to their gymnastics class, because I trained in gymnastics when I was younger and they lacked better apparatus," she explained to outlets.
In recent years, Ezra Collective gave their winnings to the youth organization that nurtured their group, as well as other local music groups.
Additionally the 1994 recipients the group donated their winnings to a charity for MS after a acquaintance was found to have the disease.
"Receiving the award was ample," stated vocalist Heather Small. "The money was the cherry on top but we could do without the bonus, because we had the honor. So our winning impacted another person's life."
Last week, the trust announced it had protected two grassroots venues in the South East, by placing them under public stewardship.
The Joiners in that area and the second in that location were bought under the community ownership program, which is supported by Arts Council England and music fans who buy "ownership units" in the venues.
