Sam Fender has handed over the entirety of his twenty-five thousand pound Mercury Prize winnings to the Music Venues Trust, which functions to preserve the Britain's independent live music spots.
The star was awarded the prize on October 16 as his new release People Watching was chosen as the outstanding release of the last 12 months.
Fender has decided to give the cash to the Music Venues Trust, in appreciation of the essential function grassroots venues played in his beginning days.
"I couldn't be pursuing this success if it wasn't for all the gigs I did around the North East, and elsewhere, when I was just getting going," remarked Sam Fender. "These locations are legendary, but they are in difficulty."
From early 2023 onward, more than 150 of these spaces have permanently closed – about one-sixth of the entire UK sector.
Recently, major artists including Pulp, Coldplay, Katy Perry and Ed Sheeran have all backed the Music Venues Trust in its initiatives to help venues survive, by adding a modest fee to their admission fees, which goes to help independent venues.
He also participated, raising in excess of £100,000 on his recent tour to help thirty-eight local spots across Britain.
These funds supported spaces that were dealing with imminent closure due to difficulties stemming from water damage, fire incidents and bereavements, as well as permit problems, court cases and sound issues.
Additional spaces were granted financial assistance in modernizing amenities and gear that directly benefitted musicians and concertgoers.
"The concept that revenue from concerts in large arenas backs the smaller venues, where it all starts for performers like me, is just logical," Fender has said.
The musician is among several artists to donate his Mercury Prize winnings to charitable organizations.
When they earned the prize in the year 1996 for their release Different Class, vocalist Jarvis Cocker announced that the band would contribute their prize money to the charity War Child.
In 2002, artist she split her bounty among a few good causes, including the children's charity and a Sickle Cell charity.
"Additionally, I contributed a £1,000 to my local community centre, to their gymnastics class, because I did gymnastics when I was growing up and they required new equipment," Ms Dynamite told a publication.
In recent years, Ezra Collective contributed their winnings to the youth organization that developed their act, alongside other independent music bodies.
Additionally the 1994 recipients M People donated their prize to a multiple sclerosis charity after a acquaintance was diagnosed the condition.
"The victory was sufficient," said vocalist Small. "The money was the extra but we could do without the cherry, because we had the cake. So our winning impacted the lives of others."
Recently, the trust shared it had saved a couple of local spots in that region, by placing them under public stewardship.
One venue in the city and The Croft in the city were bought under the Own Our Venues initiative, which is supported by a national body and supporters who acquire "shares" in the buildings.
