Sam Fender has donated the complete sum of his £25,000 Mercury Prize winnings to the MVT, which functions to preserve the UK's independent concert spaces.
The star was presented with the award on October 16 as his third album his work was declared the top album of the previous year.
Fender has decided to give the cash to the Music Venues Trust, in appreciation of the vital role small stages played in his initial steps.
"I personally couldn't be pursuing this success if it weren't for all the performances I performed around the North East, and further afield, when I was just getting going," remarked Sam Fender. "These venues are legendary, but they are in difficulty."
From early 2023 onward, over 150 of these spaces have permanently closed – about 16 percent of the total UK scene.
Recently, top acts like the band Pulp, the group Coldplay, Katy Perry and Ed Sheeran have all aided the trust in its attempts to help venues survive, by including a modest fee to their admission fees, which goes to help smaller concert halls.
Fender also took part, generating over £100k on his recent tour to support thirty-eight local spots across England, Scotland, and Wales.
The money assisted venues that were facing imminent closure due to challenges caused by water damage, fire incidents and family tragedies, as well as regulatory hurdles, court cases and noise complaints.
Some locations obtained funding support in improving facilities and sound and lighting systems that directly benefitted musicians and audiences.
"The notion that funds from concerts in large arenas supports the smaller venues, where it kicks off for performers like me, is just common sense," Sam Fender has commented.
He is far from the only musician to donate his Mercury Prize funds to good deeds.
In Pulp received the trophy in the year 1996 for their album their work, frontman Cocker stated that the band would give their winnings to the charity War Child.
In 2002, artist the artist divided her bounty across a few organizations, like the NSPCC and a charity for Sickle Cell.
"I also donated a grand to Highgate Newtown, to their gymnastics program, because I trained in gymnastics when I was a child and they lacked better apparatus," she explained to the media.
Previously, the band donated their prize money to the youth organization that developed their group, alongside other independent music bodies.
Additionally the 1994 recipients the group contributed their winnings to a multiple sclerosis charity after a friend was found to have the condition.
"Winning was sufficient," stated vocalist the singer. "The money was the extra but we didn't need the cherry, because we had the cake. So our victory affected another person's life."
Last week, the trust revealed it had protected several small stages in that region, by bringing them into local control.
The first in Southampton and the other in that location were acquired under the community ownership program, which is supported by the arts council and music fans who acquire "ownership units" in the venues.
