Sam Fender has handed over the complete sum of his £25,000 Mercury Prize winnings to the Music Venues Trust, which operates to save the Britain's independent concert spaces.
Fender was presented with the cheque on 16 October as his latest record People Watching was chosen as the top album of the previous year.
He has decided to give the cash to the trust, in appreciation of the essential function grassroots venues had in his beginning days.
"I personally would not have achieved my current career if it hadn't been for all the performances I played around the area, and further afield, when I was beginning," said Sam Fender. "These locations are iconic, but they are struggling."
Beginning in 2023, over 150 of these locations have permanently closed – approximately one-sixth of the entire UK sector.
In the last year, major artists like Pulp, the group Coldplay, the singer Katy Perry and Ed Sheeran have all backed the Music Venues Trust in its initiatives to help venues survive, by applying a modest fee to their ticket costs, which goes to help independent venues.
Sam Fender also participated, raising in excess of £100,000 on his recent tour to support thirty-eight local spots across the UK.
The donation helped venues that were confronting possible closure due to issues arising from floods, blazes and personal losses, as well as permit problems, legal disputes and neighbor objections.
Additional spaces received financial assistance in improving facilities and sound and lighting systems that directly benefitted performers and fans.
"The notion that revenue from concerts in big venues helps the smaller venues, where it begins for performers like me, is just logical," Sam Fender has commented.
Fender is among several artists to give his Mercury Prize funds to worthy causes.
Back when Pulp won the award in 1996 for their record the album, lead singer the singer stated that the act would give their prize money to the charity War Child.
During 2002, artist she split her prize among several charities, such as the NSPCC and a charity for Sickle Cell.
"I also donated a thousand pounds to Highgate Newtown, to their gymnastics program, because I practiced gymnastics when I was growing up and they required new equipment," the artist explained to a publication.
Two years ago, they contributed their winnings to the community center that supported their group, as well as other independent music bodies.
Also winners that year they gave their winnings to a multiple sclerosis charity after a close contact was identified with the illness.
"Receiving the award was quite enough," stated vocalist the singer. "The prize was the bonus but we didn't need the bonus, because we had the cake. So our success impacted another person's life."
Recently, the trust announced it had saved two small stages in that region, by transferring them to public stewardship.
The first in Southampton and The Croft in that location were bought under the Own Our Venues program, which is backed by Arts Council England and music fans who purchase "stakes" in the properties.
