Sam Fender has handed over the entirety of his twenty-five thousand pound award prize money to the trust for venues, which works to preserve the United Kingdom's small live music spots.
Fender was given the cheque on October 16 as his third album People Watching was declared the outstanding release of the previous year.
Fender has opted to donate the funds to the MVT, in appreciation of the crucial part local spots had in his initial steps.
"I personally couldn't be pursuing my current career if it weren't for all the gigs I played around the North East, and further afield, when I was just getting going," remarked Sam Fender. "These venues are renowned, but they are facing challenges."
Beginning in 2023, more than 150 of these spaces have permanently closed – about 16 percent of the entire UK sector.
Over the past year, well-known musicians such as Pulp, Coldplay, Katy Perry and Sheeran have all aided the MVT in its initiatives to support the industry, by adding a modest fee to their admission fees, which supports independent venues.
Sam Fender also joined in, collecting more than £100,000 on his recent tour to assist thirty-eight grassroots venues across England, Scotland, and Wales.
The donation supported venues that were facing possible closure due to challenges stemming from flooding, blazes and family tragedies, as well as regulatory hurdles, conflicts and neighbor objections.
Additional spaces received funding support in improving infrastructure and sound and lighting systems that directly benefitted musicians and audiences.
"The notion that money from concerts in large arenas helps the local stages, where it all starts for performers like me, is just sensible," the star has stated.
The musician is not the first artist to give his Mercury Prize winnings to worthy causes.
Back when the band won the prize in the year 1996 for their release Different Class, frontman Cocker announced that the group would contribute their winnings to the organization the charity.
During 2002, artist she split her award across multiple organizations, like the NSPCC and a charity for Sickle Cell.
"And I gave a £1,000 to the center, to their gymnastics program, because I did gymnastics when I was a child and they required better apparatus," Ms Dynamite told the media.
Previously, Ezra Collective gave their winnings to the community center that supported their act, as well as other grassroots music organisations.
Additionally the 1994 recipients the group gave their winnings to a multiple sclerosis charity after a close contact was found to have the illness.
"Winning was ample," stated artist Heather Small. "The prize was the bonus but we could do without the extra, because we had the main prize. So our winning affected somebody else's life."
In the past week, the trust shared it had rescued a couple of small stages in that region, by bringing them into public stewardship.
The Joiners in the city and the second in Bristol were purchased under the public acquisition scheme, which is supported by the arts council and supporters who purchase "ownership units" in the venues.
