The artist donates £25,000 award winnings to small music venues

The star has handed over the entirety of his £25k award cash to the trust for venues, which works to protect the United Kingdom's small concert spaces.

Fender was presented with the prize on October 16 as his third album his work was declared the top album of the previous year.

Fender has decided to give the cash to the trust, in recognition of the essential function local spots played in his beginning days.

"I personally wouldn't be doing this success if it weren't for all the shows I performed around the North East, and further afield, when I was just getting going," remarked Sam Fender. "These venues are legendary, but they are struggling."

Since the start of 2023, over 150 of these locations have ceased operations – about 16% of the total UK scene.

Over the past year, top acts like Pulp, Coldplay, Katy Perry and Sheeran have all backed the trust in its attempts to keep the scene afloat, by including a modest fee to their ticket prices, which goes to help smaller concert halls.

Fender also participated, collecting in excess of £100,000 on his live tour to help 38 local spots across Britain.

These funds helped spaces that were dealing with potential shutdown due to issues arising from flooding, blazes and family tragedies, as well as regulatory hurdles, conflicts and sound issues.

Some locations were granted monetary aid in upgrading amenities and technical equipment that directly benefitted artists and concertgoers.

"The concept that funds from performances in major spaces supports the local stages, where it kicks off for artists like me, is just sensible," Fender has commented.

The musician is not the first artist to contribute his Mercury Prize prize money to worthy causes.

Back when Pulp earned the trophy in the mid-90s for their release the album, lead singer Jarvis Cocker stated that the group would contribute their prize money to the non-profit War Child.

During 2002, artist the artist shared her prize among several organizations, like the NSPCC and a charity for Sickle Cell.

"I also donated a £1,000 to Highgate Newtown, to their gymnastics class, because I trained in gymnastics when I was a child and they lacked better apparatus," Ms Dynamite shared with outlets.

In recent years, the band contributed their funds to the youth organization that developed their act, in addition to other independent music bodies.

And the 1994 recipients M People contributed their award to a MS organization after a close contact was found to have the illness.

"Winning was quite enough," said artist Heather Small. "The cash was the cherry on top but we didn't need the extra, because we had the honor. So our success impacted somebody else's life."

In the past week, the MVT shared it had protected several local spots in south-east England, by bringing them into public stewardship.

The first in Southampton and the second in Bristol were acquired under the community ownership scheme, which is funded by a national body and music fans who acquire "ownership units" in the properties.