Sam Fender has given the complete sum of his £25,000 Mercury Prize prize money to the Music Venues Trust, which operates to protect the Britain's independent live music spots.
Fender was given the cheque on 16 October as his new release the album was declared the best record of the last 12 months.
He has opted to hand the money over to the Music Venues Trust, in recognition of the vital role grassroots venues fulfilled in his early career.
"As an artist wouldn't be doing my current career if it wasn't for all the gigs I performed around the North East, and further afield, when I was starting out," remarked Fender. "These spaces are renowned, but they are in difficulty."
From early 2023 onward, more than 150 of these spaces have shut down – approximately one-sixth of the entire UK sector.
Over the past year, well-known musicians such as Pulp, the group Coldplay, Katy Perry and Ed Sheeran have all supported the trust in its efforts to keep the scene afloat, by applying a modest fee to their admission fees, which supports local stages.
Fender also participated, raising in excess of £100,000 on his live tour to help numerous local spots across Britain.
These funds helped spaces that were confronting possible closure due to challenges arising from floods, blazes and personal losses, as well as licensing issues, court cases and sound issues.
Additional spaces obtained funding support in upgrading amenities and technical equipment that positively impacted musicians and audiences.
"The concept that revenue from performances in large arenas backs the independent spots, where it begins for performers like me, is just logical," the star has said.
He is not the first artist to donate his award prize money to worthy causes.
In the band won the award in the year 1996 for their album Different Class, lead singer Cocker stated that the band would donate their winnings to the organization War Child.
During 2002, musician the artist split her bounty across a few organizations, like the children's charity and a Sickle Cell organization.
"Additionally, I gave a grand to my local community centre, to their gymnastics program, because I practiced gymnastics when I was growing up and they required better apparatus," Ms Dynamite explained to a publication.
In recent years, the band gave their winnings to the youth organization that supported their group, as well as other local music groups.
Also 1994 winners they donated their award to a MS organization after a close contact was found to have the illness.
"Receiving the award was quite enough," said vocalist the singer. "The money was the extra but we didn't require the cherry, because we had the main prize. So our winning touched the lives of others."
Recently, the Music Venues Trust announced it had rescued a couple of small stages in that region, by transferring them to local control.
The Joiners in the city and The Croft in that location were purchased under the public acquisition scheme, which is funded by Arts Council England and enthusiasts who purchase "shares" in the properties.
