Sam Fender has handed over the full amount of his £25k Mercury Prize cash to the Music Venues Trust, which functions to save the United Kingdom's grassroots concert spaces.
The star was awarded the prize on mid-October as his third album his work was declared the best record of the last 12 months.
He has chosen to give the cash to the MVT, in acknowledgment of the essential function grassroots venues had in his early career.
"I personally wouldn't be doing what I am doing today if it weren't for all the performances I performed around the area, and further afield, when I was starting out," stated Fender. "These spaces are legendary, but they are in difficulty."
Beginning in 2023, at least 150 of these venues have shut down – about 16 percent of the total UK scene.
Over the past year, top acts like Pulp, the group Coldplay, the singer Katy Perry and Sheeran have all backed the Music Venues Trust in its initiatives to keep the scene afloat, by including a minor surcharge to their ticket costs, which supports smaller concert halls.
Fender also joined in, collecting over £100k on his recent tour to assist numerous small stages across England, Scotland, and Wales.
The donation supported venues that were facing potential shutdown due to challenges stemming from water damage, blazes and bereavements, as well as regulatory hurdles, court cases and neighbor objections.
Some locations received monetary aid in improving amenities and technical equipment that helped artists and concertgoers.
"The idea that revenue from shows in major spaces supports the local stages, where it all starts for musicians like me, is just logical," the star has stated.
The musician is not the first artist to give his Mercury Prize funds to good deeds.
In Pulp received the prize in 1996 for their release the album, vocalist Cocker declared that the band would contribute their winnings to the non-profit the charity.
In 2002, rapper and singer she divided her prize among a few organizations, including the NSPCC and a Sickle Cell charity.
"Additionally, I gave a thousand pounds to the center, to their gymnastics class, because I practiced gymnastics when I was younger and they required better apparatus," Ms Dynamite explained to the media.
Two years ago, Ezra Collective donated their prize money to the local youth club that developed their band, as well as other independent music bodies.
Also winners that year they gave their winnings to a charity for MS after a close contact was diagnosed the illness.
"The victory was quite enough," said singer the singer. "The prize was the bonus but we didn't require the bonus, because we had the cake. So our victory impacted somebody else's life."
Last week, the Music Venues Trust revealed it had protected a couple of grassroots venues in south-east England, by bringing them into local control.
One venue in that area and the second in Bristol were bought under the Own Our Venues program, which is backed by a national body and enthusiasts who purchase "stakes" in the venues.
