Sam Fender has donated the full amount of his twenty-five thousand pound Mercury Prize cash to the Music Venues Trust, which works to save the United Kingdom's grassroots concert spaces.
The star was awarded the cheque on mid-October as his third album the album was named the best record of the previous year.
Fender has opted to hand the money over to the Music Venues Trust, in recognition of the vital role grassroots venues fulfilled in his beginning days.
"As an artist wouldn't be doing this success if it wasn't for all the shows I played around the North East, and elsewhere, when I was just getting going," remarked the artist. "These spaces are legendary, but they are in difficulty."
Since the start of 2023, at least 150 of these locations have shut down – about one-sixth of the whole industry in the UK.
Recently, major artists like Pulp, Coldplay, Katy Perry and Ed Sheeran have all aided the MVT in its initiatives to support the industry, by applying a small levy to their admission fees, which supports smaller concert halls.
Fender also joined in, collecting more than £100,000 on his recent tour to assist numerous local spots across Britain.
The donation helped spaces that were facing possible closure due to issues stemming from water damage, fire incidents and bereavements, as well as permit problems, conflicts and neighbor objections.
Some locations received funding support in improving facilities and technical equipment that directly benefitted performers and fans.
"The notion that money from performances in major spaces helps the local stages, where it begins for performers like me, is just common sense," Fender has commented.
Fender is among several artists to donate his Mercury Prize funds to good deeds.
When the band earned the prize in the mid-90s for their release Different Class, frontman Cocker declared that the act would contribute their prize money to the non-profit the charity.
That year, musician she shared her prize between several organizations, including the NSPCC and a charity for Sickle Cell.
"Additionally, I donated a £1,000 to Highgate Newtown, to their gymnastics class, because I did gymnastics when I was younger and they required better apparatus," Ms Dynamite shared with a publication.
In recent years, the band contributed their winnings to the community center that developed their band, in addition to other independent music bodies.
And 1994 winners the group donated their winnings to a multiple sclerosis charity after a close contact was diagnosed the illness.
"Receiving the award was sufficient," remarked singer Heather Small. "The money was the bonus but we could do without the cherry, because we had the cake. So our success touched somebody else's life."
Last week, the Music Venues Trust revealed it had protected several local spots in the South East, by bringing them into community ownership.
The first in that area and The Croft in that location were purchased under the community ownership program, which is supported by a national body and supporters who buy "shares" in the buildings.
