The artist gives £25,000 cash award to grassroots concert halls

The star has donated the entirety of his twenty-five thousand pound Mercury Prize winnings to the trust for venues, which works to preserve the United Kingdom's independent live music spots.

The star was presented with the prize on mid-October as his latest record People Watching was named the outstanding release of the past year.

The musician has opted to hand the money over to the Music Venues Trust, in recognition of the essential function grassroots venues played in his early career.

"As an artist would not have achieved this success if it hadn't been for all the shows I played around the North East, and elsewhere, when I was starting out," said the artist. "These locations are legendary, but they are facing challenges."

Beginning in 2023, over 150 of these spaces have permanently closed – approximately 16 percent of the total UK scene.

In the last year, major artists including the band Pulp, Coldplay, Katy Perry and Ed Sheeran have all backed the Music Venues Trust in its efforts to help venues survive, by including a minor surcharge to their ticket costs, which benefits smaller concert halls.

Fender also participated, raising more than £100,000 on his live tour to assist thirty-eight grassroots venues across England, Scotland, and Wales.

The donation supported spaces that were dealing with possible closure due to issues stemming from flooding, fire incidents and personal losses, as well as permit problems, court cases and neighbor objections.

Additional spaces received financial assistance in upgrading amenities and gear that helped musicians and concertgoers.

"The concept that revenue from concerts in big venues supports the smaller venues, where it kicks off for artists like me, is just common sense," Sam Fender has commented.

Fender is not the first artist to donate his award prize money to charitable organizations.

Back when the band won the trophy in 1996 for their record their work, vocalist the singer declared that the act would contribute their prize money to the charity War Child.

In 2002, artist Ms Dynamite split her prize among multiple good causes, including the NSPCC and a Sickle Cell charity.

"I also contributed a £1,000 to my local community centre, to their gymnastics program, because I practiced gymnastics when I was younger and they required new equipment," Ms Dynamite shared with outlets.

Previously, the band contributed their funds to the youth organization that supported their group, alongside other grassroots music organisations.

And the 1994 recipients M People donated their winnings to a charity for MS after a acquaintance was diagnosed the illness.

"Winning was quite enough," remarked singer Small. "The money was the cherry on top but we could do without the cherry, because we had the honor. So our success affected somebody else's life."

Recently, the trust shared it had rescued two local spots in the South East, by placing them under local control.

The Joiners in that area and the second in that location were acquired under the public acquisition scheme, which is funded by the arts council and music fans who acquire "shares" in the properties.