Sam Fender has given the entirety of his twenty-five thousand pound Mercury Prize cash to the Music Venues Trust, which operates to protect the UK's small concert spaces.
Fender was awarded the prize on mid-October as his latest record People Watching was declared the top album of the past year.
The musician has chosen to give the cash to the trust, in appreciation of the crucial part local spots had in his beginning days.
"I wouldn't be doing what I am doing today if it wasn't for all the shows I played around the region, and elsewhere, when I was starting out," said Fender. "These venues are renowned, but they are facing challenges."
From early 2023 onward, more than 150 of these spaces have permanently closed – approximately one-sixth of the entire UK sector.
Recently, top acts including Pulp, Coldplay, the singer Katy Perry and Sheeran have all backed the Music Venues Trust in its initiatives to keep the scene afloat, by applying a minor surcharge to their ticket costs, which benefits smaller concert halls.
He also participated, raising in excess of £100,000 on his live tour to support thirty-eight grassroots venues across England, Scotland, and Wales.
The money assisted venues that were confronting potential shutdown due to difficulties stemming from floods, fire incidents and family tragedies, as well as licensing issues, legal disputes and sound issues.
Other venues were granted monetary aid in upgrading facilities and sound and lighting systems that helped artists and fans.
"The concept that revenue from shows in major spaces helps the independent spots, where it kicks off for musicians like me, is just common sense," Sam Fender has said.
The musician is not the first artist to donate his award prize money to worthy causes.
When the band earned the award in the mid-90s for their record the album, vocalist the singer announced that the group would contribute their cash to the charity the charity.
During 2002, rapper and singer she split her bounty among multiple organizations, like the NSPCC and a charity for Sickle Cell.
"I also contributed a £1,000 to the center, to their gymnastics class, because I did gymnastics when I was growing up and they needed new equipment," she told a publication.
In recent years, Ezra Collective donated their funds to the local youth club that developed their group, as well as other independent music bodies.
Additionally winners that year the group gave their prize to a multiple sclerosis charity after a close contact was diagnosed the disease.
"Winning was quite enough," said singer the singer. "The money was the cherry on top but we didn't require the bonus, because we had the cake. So our winning impacted another person's life."
Recently, the MVT announced it had protected two grassroots venues in south-east England, by bringing them into public stewardship.
The first in the city and the second in that location were acquired under the Own Our Venues program, which is backed by the arts council and supporters who purchase "ownership units" in the properties.
