Sam Fender has donated the complete sum of his twenty-five thousand pound Mercury Prize winnings to the MVT, which works to protect the Britain's independent music venues.
He was awarded the cheque on mid-October as his new release People Watching was declared the top album of the previous year.
The musician has chosen to hand the money over to the MVT, in appreciation of the essential function small stages fulfilled in his beginning days.
"I would not have achieved my current career if it wasn't for all the gigs I did around the area, and beyond, when I was beginning," said Fender. "These spaces are renowned, but they are in difficulty."
Since the start of 2023, more than 150 of these spaces have permanently closed – about one-sixth of the whole industry in the UK.
Over the past year, top acts including the band Pulp, Coldplay, Katy Perry and Ed Sheeran have all supported the MVT in its initiatives to keep the scene afloat, by adding a modest fee to their admission fees, which goes to help local stages.
Sam Fender also joined in, raising in excess of £100,000 on his live tour to help numerous small stages across the UK.
These funds assisted venues that were facing possible closure due to issues stemming from floods, blazes and bereavements, as well as permit problems, conflicts and neighbor objections.
Some locations received financial assistance in upgrading infrastructure and sound and lighting systems that positively impacted musicians and fans.
"The notion that revenue from performances in major spaces helps the local stages, where it begins for artists like me, is just logical," Sam Fender has commented.
He is far from the only musician to give his award funds to worthy causes.
When they won the trophy in the year 1996 for their record Different Class, frontman the singer declared that the band would contribute their prize money to the non-profit War Child.
During 2002, artist she split her bounty between multiple organizations, including the NSPCC and a charity for Sickle Cell.
"I also contributed a £1,000 to the center, to their gymnastics program, because I practiced gymnastics when I was growing up and they needed new equipment," Ms Dynamite shared with the media.
Two years ago, Ezra Collective donated their funds to the local youth club that supported their act, in addition to other local music groups.
Also winners that year they gave their award to a MS organization after a friend was diagnosed the illness.
"The victory was quite enough," said singer Small. "The prize was the extra but we didn't need the extra, because we had the main prize. So our success impacted somebody else's life."
In the past week, the Music Venues Trust shared it had protected several local spots in that region, by placing them under local control.
The first in that area and the second in Bristol were bought under the Own Our Venues program, which is supported by Arts Council England and enthusiasts who buy "stakes" in the properties.
