Sam Fender has handed over the complete sum of his £25k Mercury Prize cash to the trust for venues, which functions to protect the United Kingdom's independent live music spots.
The star was awarded the cheque on mid-October as his third album People Watching was declared the best record of the past year.
The musician has opted to hand the money over to the trust, in appreciation of the crucial part grassroots venues fulfilled in his early career.
"As an artist wouldn't be doing this success if it hadn't been for all the shows I played around the area, and beyond, when I was starting out," said the artist. "These locations are iconic, but they are in difficulty."
Beginning in 2023, at least 150 of these locations have permanently closed – approximately 16% of the whole industry in the UK.
Over the past year, major artists including Pulp, Coldplay, the singer Katy Perry and Ed Sheeran have all backed the trust in its initiatives to keep the scene afloat, by including a small levy to their ticket prices, which goes to help local stages.
Sam Fender also participated, raising over £100k on his 2024 arena tour to assist numerous grassroots venues across England, Scotland, and Wales.
These funds helped locations that were facing possible closure due to difficulties arising from floods, fires and personal losses, as well as licensing issues, conflicts and sound issues.
Some locations obtained financial assistance in modernizing facilities and technical equipment that positively impacted artists and fans.
"The notion that revenue from shows in major spaces backs the local stages, where it kicks off for artists like me, is just common sense," Sam Fender has commented.
Fender is not the first artist to contribute his award winnings to good deeds.
In they earned the award in 1996 for their release Different Class, frontman Jarvis Cocker announced that the band would give their cash to the charity the charity.
In 2002, artist the artist divided her award among several charities, like the NSPCC and a charity for Sickle Cell.
"Additionally, I contributed a grand to the center, to their gymnastics program, because I practiced gymnastics when I was growing up and they lacked new equipment," the artist shared with the media.
Two years ago, the band contributed their winnings to the youth organization that supported their band, alongside other grassroots music organisations.
Also 1994 winners the group donated their prize to a MS organization after a close contact was found to have the disease.
"Winning was quite enough," stated vocalist Small. "The money was the extra but we could do without the cherry, because we had the main prize. So our victory affected somebody else's life."
Recently, the MVT announced it had rescued several small stages in the South East, by transferring them to public stewardship.
The first in Southampton and the second in Bristol were purchased under the community ownership program, which is backed by Arts Council England and supporters who purchase "stakes" in the buildings.
