Sam Fender has given the full amount of his twenty-five thousand pound Mercury Prize winnings to the trust for venues, which functions to preserve the United Kingdom's grassroots concert spaces.
The star was presented with the prize on mid-October as his third album People Watching was named the top album of the last 12 months.
The musician has opted to hand the money over to the Music Venues Trust, in appreciation of the vital role small stages fulfilled in his initial steps.
"I personally would not have achieved what I am doing today if it weren't for all the gigs I did around the area, and further afield, when I was starting out," stated the artist. "These venues are legendary, but they are in difficulty."
From early 2023 onward, over 150 of these venues have permanently closed – about 16 percent of the total UK scene.
In the last year, top acts like Pulp, Coldplay, Katy Perry and Ed Sheeran have all backed the Music Venues Trust in its efforts to keep the scene afloat, by applying a small levy to their ticket prices, which goes to help local stages.
Sam Fender also took part, generating more than £100,000 on his 2024 arena tour to assist 38 local spots across Britain.
The money supported venues that were facing possible closure due to challenges arising from water damage, fire incidents and family tragedies, as well as licensing issues, conflicts and sound issues.
Additional spaces received financial assistance in improving infrastructure and sound and lighting systems that directly benefitted musicians and concertgoers.
"The notion that money from performances in big venues supports the local stages, where it all starts for artists like me, is just common sense," Sam Fender has said.
He is not the first artist to contribute his Mercury Prize winnings to good deeds.
When they received the prize in 1996 for their release the album, vocalist Cocker announced that the act would contribute their cash to the organization the charity.
That year, artist the artist divided her bounty across multiple organizations, like the NSPCC and a charity for Sickle Cell.
"And I gave a grand to my local community centre, to their gymnastics program, because I practiced gymnastics when I was younger and they lacked better apparatus," Ms Dynamite shared with the media.
In recent years, the band contributed their prize money to the community center that developed their band, in addition to other grassroots music organisations.
Additionally winners that year the group contributed their prize to a MS organization after a acquaintance was identified with the disease.
"Winning was quite enough," remarked artist Small. "The prize was the cherry on top but we could do without the bonus, because we had the honor. So our success touched the lives of others."
In the past week, the trust announced it had saved two small stages in south-east England, by placing them under local control.
The Joiners in the city and the second in the city were acquired under the public acquisition initiative, which is funded by a national body and enthusiasts who purchase "ownership units" in the properties.
