Sam Fender has handed over the full amount of his £25,000 Mercury Prize winnings to the MVT, which operates to save the United Kingdom's small music venues.
The star was presented with the cheque on mid-October as his new release the album was chosen as the outstanding release of the past year.
Fender has decided to give the cash to the MVT, in acknowledgment of the vital role grassroots venues fulfilled in his early career.
"I personally couldn't be pursuing my current career if it wasn't for all the shows I performed around the North East, and elsewhere, when I was just getting going," stated the artist. "These locations are renowned, but they are struggling."
Beginning in 2023, more than 150 of these locations have ceased operations – approximately 16 percent of the total UK scene.
Over the past year, top acts including the band Pulp, the group Coldplay, Katy Perry and Sheeran have all supported the Music Venues Trust in its efforts to keep the scene afloat, by including a small levy to their admission fees, which benefits independent venues.
Fender also participated, raising more than £100,000 on his recent tour to help 38 small stages across Britain.
The donation helped locations that were dealing with possible closure due to difficulties arising from floods, fire incidents and bereavements, as well as permit problems, conflicts and neighbor objections.
Other venues were granted monetary aid in upgrading facilities and gear that helped artists and concertgoers.
"The idea that money from performances in major spaces helps the smaller venues, where it begins for musicians like me, is just sensible," the star has commented.
He is among several artists to donate his award funds to good deeds.
Back when the band won the prize in 1996 for their release their work, frontman Jarvis Cocker declared that the group would give their cash to the non-profit the charity.
That year, artist she divided her award across a few organizations, including the children's charity and a Sickle Cell charity.
"Additionally, I gave a £1,000 to my local community centre, to their classes, because I trained in gymnastics when I was a child and they needed better apparatus," the artist explained to outlets.
Previously, Ezra Collective contributed their funds to the community center that supported their act, alongside other grassroots music organisations.
Additionally winners that year M People donated their award to a multiple sclerosis charity after a friend was found to have the illness.
"Winning was ample," remarked artist Small. "The prize was the cherry on top but we didn't require the bonus, because we had the main prize. So our victory touched somebody else's life."
Recently, the MVT shared it had saved two grassroots venues in that region, by transferring them to local control.
The Joiners in that area and the other in the city were purchased under the community ownership initiative, which is backed by the arts council and supporters who buy "stakes" in the buildings.
