🔗 Share this article

The artist has donated the full amount of his £25,000 award winnings to the trust for venues, which functions to preserve the UK's independent concert spaces.

The star was given the cheque on mid-October as his new release his work was chosen as the best record of the last 12 months.

He has decided to donate the funds to the trust, in recognition of the vital role grassroots venues played in his early career.

"I personally wouldn't be doing what I am doing today if it wasn't for all the performances I performed around the area, and beyond, when I was starting out," said Sam Fender. "These locations are renowned, but they are struggling."

From early 2023 onward, more than 150 of these locations have permanently closed – roughly 16% of the whole industry in the UK.

Over the past year, top acts such as the band Pulp, Coldplay, the singer Katy Perry and Ed Sheeran have all supported the MVT in its attempts to keep the scene afloat, by including a modest fee to their ticket costs, which benefits local stages.

Sam Fender also joined in, collecting over £100k on his recent tour to assist thirty-eight grassroots venues across the UK.

The money supported locations that were facing imminent closure due to challenges stemming from floods, fire incidents and personal losses, as well as regulatory hurdles, court cases and sound issues.

Other venues were granted funding support in upgrading infrastructure and technical equipment that helped performers and audiences.

"The notion that funds from performances in large arenas backs the independent spots, where it begins for artists like me, is just sensible," Sam Fender has said.

Fender is far from the only musician to contribute his Mercury Prize prize money to charitable organizations.

In they received the award in 1996 for their album the album, vocalist Cocker stated that the group would donate their cash to the non-profit War Child.

In 2002, musician she shared her prize among a few good causes, like the NSPCC and a charity for Sickle Cell.

"Additionally, I donated a grand to the center, to their gymnastics class, because I trained in gymnastics when I was a child and they required new equipment," Ms Dynamite told outlets.

In recent years, the band donated their winnings to the community center that developed their band, in addition to other independent music bodies.

Additionally the 1994 recipients the group contributed their winnings to a multiple sclerosis charity after a close contact was identified with the disease.

"The victory was ample," remarked vocalist Heather Small. "The money was the cherry on top but we didn't need the bonus, because we had the honor. So our winning touched somebody else's life."

In the past week, the Music Venues Trust announced it had rescued two small stages in that region, by transferring them to public stewardship.

The Joiners in that area and the other in the city were bought under the Own Our Venues scheme, which is funded by Arts Council England and supporters who acquire "ownership units" in the venues.