Sam Fender has donated the full amount of his twenty-five thousand pound Mercury Prize winnings to the MVT, which functions to protect the Britain's grassroots concert spaces.
The star was presented with the cheque on mid-October as his latest record his work was declared the outstanding release of the past year.
The musician has chosen to give the cash to the MVT, in appreciation of the crucial part grassroots venues fulfilled in his initial steps.
"I wouldn't be doing this success if it wasn't for all the gigs I did around the area, and beyond, when I was starting out," stated Sam Fender. "These locations are renowned, but they are struggling."
From early 2023 onward, at least 150 of these venues have ceased operations – approximately one-sixth of the entire UK sector.
In the last year, major artists such as Pulp, Coldplay, Katy Perry and Ed Sheeran have all supported the trust in its attempts to help venues survive, by including a minor surcharge to their admission fees, which benefits local stages.
Sam Fender also participated, generating over £100k on his 2024 arena tour to help 38 local spots across Britain.
The money assisted locations that were facing imminent closure due to issues arising from floods, blazes and family tragedies, as well as regulatory hurdles, legal disputes and noise complaints.
Other venues were granted monetary aid in improving facilities and gear that directly benefitted musicians and concertgoers.
"The concept that revenue from performances in major spaces supports the local stages, where it all starts for performers like me, is just logical," Fender has said.
The musician is far from the only musician to contribute his award funds to good deeds.
In Pulp won the award in 1996 for their album Different Class, lead singer Jarvis Cocker stated that the band would donate their winnings to the organization War Child.
That year, rapper and singer Ms Dynamite split her award between multiple good causes, like the children's charity and a Sickle Cell organization.
"I also gave a grand to Highgate Newtown, to their gymnastics class, because I did gymnastics when I was a child and they required better apparatus," Ms Dynamite told outlets.
Previously, they gave their winnings to the youth organization that supported their act, as well as other grassroots music organisations.
And the 1994 recipients the group gave their prize to a MS organization after a friend was found to have the illness.
"The victory was quite enough," remarked singer the singer. "The money was the cherry on top but we didn't need the bonus, because we had the honor. So our victory touched another person's life."
Recently, the MVT announced it had rescued several small stages in that region, by bringing them into local control.
The Joiners in the city and the other in that location were acquired under the community ownership initiative, which is supported by the arts council and supporters who buy "ownership units" in the buildings.
