Sam Fender has handed over the complete sum of his twenty-five thousand pound Mercury Prize winnings to the MVT, which functions to save the UK's small live music spots.
Fender was given the prize on 16 October as his third album People Watching was declared the top album of the previous year.
The musician has decided to hand the money over to the MVT, in acknowledgment of the vital role small stages played in his initial steps.
"As an artist wouldn't be doing what I am doing today if it weren't for all the performances I did around the region, and beyond, when I was beginning," said Sam Fender. "These locations are renowned, but they are struggling."
Since the start of 2023, over 150 of these venues have ceased operations – roughly one-sixth of the total UK scene.
Recently, top acts including the band Pulp, the group Coldplay, Katy Perry and Ed Sheeran have all backed the MVT in its efforts to keep the scene afloat, by including a modest fee to their ticket prices, which goes to help independent venues.
He also joined in, collecting more than £100,000 on his live tour to help numerous local spots across England, Scotland, and Wales.
These funds helped venues that were confronting potential shutdown due to issues arising from floods, blazes and personal losses, as well as permit problems, court cases and sound issues.
Additional spaces obtained financial assistance in modernizing amenities and gear that helped musicians and concertgoers.
"The concept that funds from performances in big venues backs the local stages, where it begins for musicians like me, is just common sense," Fender has said.
The musician is far from the only musician to donate his award winnings to charitable organizations.
When they earned the prize in the year 1996 for their album the album, frontman the singer announced that the group would contribute their winnings to the charity War Child.
That year, rapper and singer she divided her award between multiple organizations, like the NSPCC and a charity for Sickle Cell.
"I also donated a £1,000 to my local community centre, to their gymnastics program, because I trained in gymnastics when I was younger and they needed better apparatus," she told the media.
Previously, the band gave their funds to the youth organization that nurtured their act, alongside other grassroots music organisations.
Additionally winners that year M People contributed their award to a multiple sclerosis charity after a close contact was diagnosed the condition.
"Receiving the award was sufficient," remarked singer Heather Small. "The cash was the bonus but we didn't need the cherry, because we had the main prize. So our victory affected another person's life."
Last week, the Music Venues Trust revealed it had saved a couple of small stages in south-east England, by placing them under community ownership.
The first in the city and the second in that location were bought under the public acquisition scheme, which is funded by the arts council and supporters who acquire "stakes" in the buildings.
