Sam Fender has donated the complete sum of his £25,000 Mercury Prize cash to the trust for venues, which functions to save the United Kingdom's independent live music spots.
Fender was given the prize on October 16 as his new release his work was declared the top album of the last 12 months.
The musician has chosen to hand the money over to the Music Venues Trust, in acknowledgment of the vital role local spots played in his beginning days.
"I personally couldn't be pursuing what I am doing today if it wasn't for all the shows I played around the area, and beyond, when I was starting out," remarked the artist. "These locations are renowned, but they are struggling."
From early 2023 onward, at least 150 of these spaces have permanently closed – about 16 percent of the entire UK sector.
Recently, major artists such as Pulp, the group Coldplay, the singer Katy Perry and Ed Sheeran have all supported the MVT in its attempts to help venues survive, by including a modest fee to their admission fees, which goes to help independent venues.
Fender also joined in, generating in excess of £100,000 on his live tour to support 38 small stages across the UK.
The money helped venues that were dealing with imminent closure due to issues arising from floods, fire incidents and family tragedies, as well as regulatory hurdles, legal disputes and noise complaints.
Additional spaces obtained monetary aid in improving facilities and technical equipment that helped musicians and concertgoers.
"The notion that revenue from shows in large arenas supports the local stages, where it kicks off for artists like me, is just sensible," Fender has stated.
The musician is far from the only musician to donate his award prize money to charitable organizations.
Back when Pulp earned the trophy in the year 1996 for their album Different Class, frontman Cocker declared that the group would give their prize money to the organization the charity.
In 2002, artist she shared her prize between a few charities, such as the NSPCC and a Sickle Cell charity.
"Additionally, I gave a grand to the center, to their gymnastics class, because I trained in gymnastics when I was younger and they required updated gear," she shared with the media.
Two years ago, the band contributed their funds to the community center that nurtured their band, as well as other local music groups.
Also winners that year M People donated their award to a multiple sclerosis charity after a acquaintance was found to have the illness.
"Winning was ample," stated vocalist Small. "The prize was the bonus but we didn't require the cherry, because we had the honor. So our winning affected the lives of others."
Recently, the trust shared it had rescued two local spots in south-east England, by transferring them to public stewardship.
The first in the city and the other in the city were acquired under the public acquisition scheme, which is supported by a national body and supporters who buy "ownership units" in the venues.
