Sam Fender has given the full amount of his twenty-five thousand pound honor winnings to the MVT, which functions to preserve the UK's grassroots live music spots.
The star was presented with the cheque on 16 October as his new release People Watching was declared the best record of the previous year.
The musician has opted to hand the money over to the MVT, in recognition of the essential function small stages fulfilled in his beginning days.
"I wouldn't be doing my current career if it weren't for all the gigs I did around the North East, and elsewhere, when I was beginning," said Fender. "These spaces are renowned, but they are struggling."
From early 2023 onward, at least 150 of these spaces have shut down – about 16% of the whole industry in the UK.
Over the past year, top acts including the band Pulp, Coldplay, the singer Katy Perry and Sheeran have all backed the trust in its attempts to keep the scene afloat, by including a minor surcharge to their admission fees, which supports independent venues.
He also took part, generating in excess of £100,000 on his 2024 arena tour to help thirty-eight grassroots venues across Britain.
The money assisted venues that were confronting possible closure due to challenges stemming from water damage, fire incidents and family tragedies, as well as regulatory hurdles, legal disputes and noise complaints.
Additional spaces received funding support in modernizing amenities and technical equipment that directly benefitted performers and concertgoers.
"The notion that funds from concerts in major spaces supports the independent spots, where it all starts for musicians like me, is just logical," Sam Fender has stated.
The musician is far from the only musician to give his Mercury Prize winnings to charitable organizations.
When Pulp won the trophy in the mid-90s for their record Different Class, lead singer Cocker declared that the band would contribute their prize money to the charity War Child.
During 2002, musician Ms Dynamite shared her bounty between multiple charities, like the NSPCC and a Sickle Cell organization.
"Additionally, I contributed a thousand pounds to my local community centre, to their gymnastics class, because I did gymnastics when I was younger and they needed new equipment," the artist told a publication.
In recent years, they donated their funds to the community center that developed their group, as well as other independent music bodies.
Additionally winners that year the group contributed their winnings to a charity for MS after a close contact was identified with the illness.
"The victory was ample," remarked singer the singer. "The prize was the cherry on top but we didn't require the extra, because we had the cake. So our winning impacted another person's life."
In the past week, the Music Venues Trust revealed it had rescued two grassroots venues in south-east England, by bringing them into public stewardship.
One venue in that area and the second in Bristol were acquired under the community ownership initiative, which is backed by the arts council and music fans who acquire "ownership units" in the properties.
