Sam Fender has given the complete sum of his £25,000 Mercury Prize winnings to the Music Venues Trust, which works to save the Britain's small concert spaces.
Fender was awarded the award on 16 October as his third album his work was named the top album of the past year.
He has opted to donate the funds to the Music Venues Trust, in appreciation of the essential function local spots had in his early career.
"I couldn't be pursuing my current career if it hadn't been for all the performances I performed around the region, and elsewhere, when I was just getting going," stated Sam Fender. "These venues are iconic, but they are struggling."
Beginning in 2023, over 150 of these spaces have permanently closed – roughly 16 percent of the entire UK sector.
Recently, major artists including Pulp, Coldplay, Katy Perry and Ed Sheeran have all aided the trust in its efforts to help venues survive, by applying a small levy to their ticket prices, which goes to help local stages.
Sam Fender also took part, collecting more than £100,000 on his 2024 arena tour to assist thirty-eight small stages across the UK.
These funds assisted venues that were dealing with imminent closure due to challenges caused by water damage, blazes and bereavements, as well as permit problems, legal disputes and neighbor objections.
Additional spaces received financial assistance in upgrading amenities and gear that helped artists and concertgoers.
"The concept that revenue from performances in large arenas backs the independent spots, where it kicks off for musicians like me, is just common sense," Fender has said.
He is among several artists to contribute his Mercury Prize funds to good deeds.
In Pulp won the prize in 1996 for their album the album, vocalist Jarvis Cocker announced that the band would give their cash to the charity War Child.
In 2002, artist the artist split her prize across several good causes, including the NSPCC and a charity for Sickle Cell.
"I also gave a thousand pounds to the center, to their gymnastics class, because I did gymnastics when I was younger and they lacked new equipment," the artist explained to the media.
Two years ago, Ezra Collective donated their winnings to the community center that developed their group, in addition to other grassroots music organisations.
Additionally winners that year the group contributed their prize to a multiple sclerosis charity after a close contact was identified with the disease.
"Winning was quite enough," stated artist the singer. "The money was the cherry on top but we could do without the cherry, because we had the main prize. So our winning impacted another person's life."
Recently, the MVT announced it had protected several local spots in the South East, by placing them under community ownership.
The first in the city and the second in that location were acquired under the community ownership scheme, which is funded by the arts council and music fans who buy "stakes" in the buildings.
