Sam Fender has handed over the entirety of his twenty-five thousand pound Mercury Prize cash to the Music Venues Trust, which operates to protect the United Kingdom's independent live music spots.
He was given the cheque on mid-October as his new release the album was declared the outstanding release of the past year.
Fender has decided to give the cash to the MVT, in appreciation of the vital role local spots fulfilled in his early career.
"As an artist couldn't be pursuing my current career if it hadn't been for all the gigs I played around the area, and beyond, when I was starting out," remarked the artist. "These locations are renowned, but they are facing challenges."
From early 2023 onward, at least 150 of these spaces have shut down – approximately one-sixth of the entire UK sector.
In the last year, major artists including Pulp, Coldplay, Katy Perry and Sheeran have all aided the MVT in its attempts to help venues survive, by applying a small levy to their ticket costs, which benefits local stages.
Sam Fender also took part, raising over £100k on his live tour to assist 38 local spots across Britain.
The donation assisted spaces that were facing potential shutdown due to challenges caused by floods, blazes and family tragedies, as well as regulatory hurdles, conflicts and neighbor objections.
Other venues received financial assistance in improving infrastructure and gear that helped musicians and concertgoers.
"The notion that money from concerts in large arenas backs the local stages, where it begins for musicians like me, is just logical," Fender has commented.
The musician is not the first artist to contribute his award winnings to charitable organizations.
Back when they earned the prize in 1996 for their release their work, frontman Jarvis Cocker declared that the band would donate their cash to the charity the charity.
That year, rapper and singer she split her prize among a few good causes, like the NSPCC and a Sickle Cell organization.
"And I donated a thousand pounds to the center, to their gymnastics class, because I trained in gymnastics when I was a child and they required better apparatus," the artist told a publication.
Previously, they gave their funds to the youth organization that nurtured their act, in addition to other grassroots music organisations.
And 1994 winners the group gave their winnings to a MS organization after a close contact was identified with the illness.
"Winning was ample," said singer Heather Small. "The prize was the extra but we could do without the cherry, because we had the cake. So our winning touched the lives of others."
Recently, the MVT announced it had saved two small stages in that region, by bringing them into public stewardship.
The first in Southampton and the second in Bristol were acquired under the Own Our Venues scheme, which is funded by the arts council and supporters who buy "stakes" in the buildings.
