Sam Fender has handed over the full amount of his £25,000 Mercury Prize winnings to the Music Venues Trust, which operates to protect 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 best record of the previous year.
He has decided to donate the funds to the MVT, in appreciation of the essential function local spots played in his initial steps.
"I personally couldn't be pursuing this success if it weren't for all the performances I did around the region, and beyond, when I was beginning," stated Sam Fender. "These venues are iconic, but they are facing challenges."
From early 2023 onward, at least 150 of these spaces have permanently closed – approximately 16% of the entire UK sector.
Over the past year, major artists such as the band Pulp, Coldplay, Katy Perry and Ed Sheeran have all supported the trust in its attempts to help venues survive, by applying a modest fee to their ticket costs, which goes to help local stages.
Fender also participated, raising in excess of £100,000 on his recent tour to assist 38 small stages across Britain.
These funds assisted locations that were dealing with potential shutdown due to difficulties stemming from floods, blazes and bereavements, as well as regulatory hurdles, court cases and sound issues.
Additional spaces obtained financial assistance in modernizing facilities and sound and lighting systems that helped musicians and concertgoers.
"The idea that money from shows in big venues helps the independent spots, where it all starts for musicians like me, is just sensible," the star has said.
He is far from the only musician to donate his Mercury Prize prize money to charitable organizations.
Back when the band earned the trophy in the year 1996 for their release Different Class, vocalist the singer declared that the band would give their prize money to the organization War Child.
That year, rapper and singer the artist shared her bounty between several charities, like the children's charity and a charity for Sickle Cell.
"And I gave a £1,000 to my local community centre, to their classes, because I trained in gymnastics when I was growing up and they needed better apparatus," Ms Dynamite explained to the media.
Previously, Ezra Collective gave their winnings to the local youth club that supported their band, in addition to other grassroots music organisations.
Also the 1994 recipients the group contributed their prize to a MS organization after a close contact was found to have the disease.
"The victory was quite enough," stated singer Small. "The prize was the cherry on top but we could do without the bonus, because we had the honor. So our success affected the lives of others."
Recently, the trust shared it had saved a couple of grassroots venues in that region, by placing them under local control.
One venue in Southampton and the second in Bristol were bought under the community ownership initiative, which is backed by the arts council and enthusiasts who buy "shares" in the venues.
