Sam Fender has handed over the complete sum of his £25,000 Mercury Prize prize money to the trust for venues, which functions to preserve the UK's independent live music spots.
The star was presented with the award on October 16 as his latest record People Watching was chosen as the best record of the past year.
He has chosen to donate the funds to the MVT, in appreciation of the vital role grassroots venues fulfilled in his beginning days.
"I wouldn't be doing what I am doing today if it wasn't for all the performances I played around the area, and elsewhere, when I was just getting going," stated Sam Fender. "These venues are iconic, but they are struggling."
Since the start of 2023, at least 150 of these spaces have permanently closed – approximately one-sixth of the whole industry in the UK.
In the last year, major artists like Pulp, Coldplay, Katy Perry and Ed Sheeran have all aided the MVT in its initiatives to support the industry, by including a modest fee to their admission fees, which supports local stages.
Fender also participated, generating over £100k on his 2024 arena tour to support thirty-eight small stages across Britain.
The donation helped locations that were confronting potential shutdown due to challenges caused by flooding, fires and bereavements, as well as licensing issues, conflicts and neighbor objections.
Additional spaces obtained monetary aid in modernizing infrastructure and technical equipment that positively impacted artists and fans.
"The idea that revenue from shows in big venues helps the local stages, where it all starts for artists like me, is just logical," Sam Fender has commented.
Fender is among several artists to donate his Mercury Prize prize money to charitable organizations.
Back when Pulp won the trophy in 1996 for their record Different Class, lead singer Cocker declared that the band would give their winnings to the organization the charity.
That year, rapper and singer the artist split her prize across multiple organizations, including the children's charity and a Sickle Cell charity.
"I also donated a £1,000 to my local community centre, to their classes, because I trained in gymnastics when I was a child and they needed updated gear," Ms Dynamite told outlets.
In recent years, they contributed their prize money to the community center that nurtured their act, in addition to other local music groups.
Also the 1994 recipients the group gave their award to a multiple sclerosis charity after a close contact was found to have the disease.
"The victory was quite enough," said artist the singer. "The cash was the cherry on top but we didn't require the cherry, because we had the cake. So our winning touched another person's life."
Recently, the Music Venues Trust shared it had rescued a couple of local spots in south-east England, by bringing them into public stewardship.
The first in that area and The Croft in Bristol were acquired under the public acquisition program, which is supported by a national body and music fans who buy "shares" in the venues.
