Sam Fender has donated the full amount of his £25k honor prize money to the Music Venues Trust, which operates to preserve the United Kingdom's independent music venues.
Fender was awarded the prize on 16 October as his third album his work was chosen as the top album of the previous year.
The musician has opted to donate the funds to the trust, in recognition of the essential function small stages fulfilled in his early career.
"I personally would not have achieved 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," said the artist. "These venues are renowned, but they are in difficulty."
From early 2023 onward, at least 150 of these venues have permanently closed – about 16 percent of the total UK scene.
Recently, major artists such as the band Pulp, Coldplay, Katy Perry and Ed Sheeran have all backed the Music Venues Trust in its efforts to help venues survive, by applying a small levy to their admission fees, which benefits independent venues.
He also joined in, generating in excess of £100,000 on his 2024 arena tour to assist numerous local spots across the UK.
The donation helped venues that were dealing with imminent closure due to challenges caused by flooding, fire incidents and bereavements, as well as regulatory hurdles, conflicts and sound issues.
Other venues obtained financial assistance in upgrading amenities and sound and lighting systems that directly benefitted musicians and concertgoers.
"The notion that revenue from concerts in big venues backs the local stages, where it kicks off for musicians like me, is just common sense," the star has commented.
He is among several artists to donate his Mercury Prize winnings to charitable organizations.
Back when the band won the award in the mid-90s for their record their work, frontman Cocker stated that the act would donate their winnings to the organization War Child.
During 2002, musician Ms Dynamite split her prize between a few good causes, including the children's charity and a charity for Sickle Cell.
"Additionally, I donated a £1,000 to the center, to their gymnastics program, because I did gymnastics when I was growing up and they needed better apparatus," she shared with a publication.
In recent years, they donated their winnings to the local youth club that supported their group, in addition to other independent music bodies.
Also winners that year they contributed their prize to a MS organization after a friend was diagnosed the disease.
"Winning was ample," stated vocalist Small. "The prize was the bonus but we didn't need the cherry, because we had the main prize. So our winning touched somebody else's life."
Recently, the trust announced it had protected a couple of grassroots venues in south-east England, by bringing them into local control.
The Joiners in the city and the second in Bristol were bought under the public acquisition initiative, which is backed by the arts council and music fans who acquire "ownership units" in the properties.
