Sam Fender has given the full amount of his £25,000 Mercury Prize prize money to the Music Venues Trust, which works to save the United Kingdom's grassroots concert spaces.
He was awarded the prize on mid-October as his latest record People Watching was named the best record of the past year.
The musician has chosen to hand the money over to the Music Venues Trust, in acknowledgment of the crucial part local spots had in his initial steps.
"As an artist wouldn't be doing my current career if it wasn't for all the performances I performed around the North East, and elsewhere, when I was starting out," remarked Fender. "These venues are iconic, but they are in difficulty."
Since the start of 2023, more than 150 of these locations have ceased operations – about 16% of the entire UK sector.
Over the past year, well-known musicians including Pulp, Coldplay, the singer Katy Perry and Ed Sheeran have all backed the Music Venues Trust in its efforts to keep the scene afloat, by applying a minor surcharge to their ticket prices, which goes to help smaller concert halls.
Fender also joined in, generating more than £100,000 on his 2024 arena tour to help thirty-eight local spots across Britain.
The donation helped spaces that were confronting potential shutdown due to issues arising from flooding, fires and bereavements, as well as permit problems, court cases and noise complaints.
Other venues were granted funding support in modernizing amenities and gear that positively impacted performers and audiences.
"The notion that revenue from concerts in big venues backs the smaller venues, where it begins for musicians like me, is just common sense," Fender has commented.
He is far from the only musician to give his Mercury Prize winnings to worthy causes.
In Pulp earned the prize in 1996 for their record the album, frontman the singer announced that the act would contribute their cash to the charity War Child.
That year, artist she split her award among a few organizations, like the NSPCC and a Sickle Cell organization.
"And I contributed a thousand pounds to my local community centre, to their classes, because I trained in gymnastics when I was growing up and they needed new equipment," Ms Dynamite told a publication.
In recent years, they gave their prize money to the community center that nurtured their group, in addition to other independent music bodies.
And the 1994 recipients M People gave their winnings to a charity for MS after a acquaintance was identified with the disease.
"Winning was sufficient," remarked vocalist Heather Small. "The money was the bonus but we didn't need the cherry, because we had the main prize. So our victory impacted another person's life."
Last week, the Music Venues Trust shared it had protected a couple of grassroots venues in that region, by transferring them to public stewardship.
One venue in the city and the other in the city were bought under the Own Our Venues scheme, which is supported by Arts Council England and enthusiasts who buy "ownership units" in the properties.
