The musician gives twenty-five thousand pounds award winnings to small concert halls

Sam Fender receiving the award in Newcastle
The musician won the prestigious award recently in the North East

The artist has donated the complete sum of his twenty-five thousand pound Mercury Prize prize money to the trust for venues, which works to save the Britain's grassroots music venues.

The star was awarded the prize on mid-October as his latest record the album was named the top album of the previous year.

Fender has decided to donate the funds to the MVT, in acknowledgment of the vital role grassroots venues had in his beginning days.

"I personally wouldn't be doing my current career if it wasn't for all the shows I played around the area, and further afield, when I was starting out," remarked the artist. "These venues are legendary, but they are facing challenges."

Beginning in 2023, more than 150 of these locations have ceased operations – about 16 percent of the entire UK sector.

Over the past year, major artists including Pulp, Coldplay, the singer Katy Perry and Sheeran have all backed the Music Venues Trust in its efforts to support the industry, by applying a modest fee to their admission fees, which goes to help local stages.

He also joined in, collecting more than £100,000 on his recent tour to assist numerous small stages across the UK.

The money helped venues that were confronting imminent closure due to difficulties stemming from water damage, fire incidents and family tragedies, as well as licensing issues, conflicts and noise complaints.

Other venues obtained funding support in modernizing infrastructure and technical equipment that directly benefitted artists and audiences.

"The notion that money from performances in large arenas helps the smaller venues, where it kicks off for performers like me, is just common sense," Sam Fender has said.

Pulp on stage
The group are one of the many acts who contributed their Mercury Prize funds to charity

He is far from the only musician to contribute his Mercury Prize winnings to good deeds.

In they received the prize in the year 1996 for their release their work, lead singer Cocker declared that the group would donate their winnings to the charity War Child.

That year, rapper and singer Ms Dynamite split her bounty between multiple charities, such as the NSPCC and a charity for Sickle Cell.

"Additionally, I gave a £1,000 to Highgate Newtown, to their classes, because I trained in gymnastics when I was a child and they required new equipment," the artist told the media.

Two years ago, they gave their funds to the community center that supported their band, as well as other grassroots music organisations.

And winners that year the group donated their prize to a MS organization after a close contact was found to have the illness.

"Winning was quite enough," remarked artist Small. "The prize was the extra but we didn't need the extra, because we had the cake. So our victory impacted another person's life."

In the past week, the trust shared it had rescued two grassroots venues in that region, by bringing them into public stewardship.

The first in the city and the second in Bristol were bought under the community ownership program, which is backed by Arts Council England and supporters who buy "ownership units" in the buildings.

Victoria Anderson
Victoria Anderson

A seasoned gaming journalist with over a decade of experience covering the Canadian online casino industry and player trends.