Sam Fender has given the entirety of his £25k Mercury Prize winnings to the trust for venues, which functions to preserve the United Kingdom's small music venues.
The star was awarded the prize on 16 October as his third album People Watching was chosen as the outstanding release of the past year.
Fender has opted to give the cash to the Music Venues Trust, in acknowledgment of the vital role grassroots venues fulfilled in his initial steps.
"I would not have achieved what I am doing today if it weren't for all the shows I played around the region, and further afield, when I was starting out," said Sam Fender. "These spaces are legendary, but they are facing challenges."
Since the start of 2023, at least 150 of these locations have shut down – about one-sixth of the entire UK sector.
In the last year, major artists including Pulp, the group Coldplay, Katy Perry and Ed Sheeran have all supported the Music Venues Trust in its efforts to help venues survive, by applying a small levy to their admission fees, which goes to help independent venues.
Fender also took part, raising in excess of £100,000 on his 2024 arena tour to support thirty-eight small stages across England, Scotland, and Wales.
These funds supported venues that were dealing with potential shutdown due to issues arising from flooding, blazes and bereavements, as well as licensing issues, legal disputes and noise complaints.
Additional spaces were granted monetary aid in modernizing facilities and sound and lighting systems that positively impacted performers and audiences.
"The concept that funds from shows in major spaces supports the smaller venues, where it begins for musicians like me, is just common sense," Sam Fender has stated.
He is among several artists to contribute his honor winnings to good deeds.
When the band won the award in the year 1996 for their record their work, lead singer Cocker declared that the band would donate their cash to the non-profit the charity.
That year, artist Ms Dynamite divided her bounty across a few good causes, including the NSPCC and a Sickle Cell charity.
"I also donated a £1,000 to my local community centre, to their gymnastics class, because I did gymnastics when I was growing up and they lacked new equipment," the artist explained to a publication.
In recent years, they donated their prize money to the community center that nurtured their act, alongside other grassroots music organisations.
And winners that year the group donated their award to a MS organization after a acquaintance was found to have the disease.
"Winning was ample," stated singer Small. "The cash was the bonus but we didn't need the bonus, because we had the main prize. So our success touched the lives of others."
In the past week, the Music Venues Trust announced it had protected a couple of grassroots venues in the South East, by bringing them into community ownership.
The Joiners in the city and the second in the city were purchased under the public acquisition scheme, which is supported by the arts council and enthusiasts who acquire "stakes" in the properties.
