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The artist contributes £25,000 award winnings to small concert halls
Sam Fender has donated the entirety of his twenty-five thousand pound honor prize money to the trust for venues, which works to save the Britain's independent music venues.
He was given the award on mid-October as his latest record People Watching was chosen as the top album of the previous year.
Fender has opted to give the cash to the Music Venues Trust, in recognition of the essential function grassroots venues fulfilled in his beginning days.
"I wouldn't be doing my current career if it wasn't for all the shows I played around the North East, and elsewhere, when I was just getting going," said Sam Fender. "These locations are renowned, but they are facing challenges."
From early 2023 onward, more than 150 of these locations have permanently closed – about 16% of the entire UK sector.
Recently, major artists including the band Pulp, Coldplay, Katy Perry and Sheeran have all backed the MVT in its initiatives to help venues survive, by adding a minor surcharge to their ticket prices, which benefits smaller concert halls.
Sam Fender also joined in, collecting more than £100,000 on his live tour to help 38 grassroots venues across Britain.
These funds helped spaces that were confronting possible closure due to difficulties arising from floods, blazes and bereavements, as well as permit problems, legal disputes and neighbor objections.
Some locations received financial assistance in upgrading facilities and technical equipment that helped performers and fans.
"The concept that funds from concerts in major spaces helps the independent spots, where it kicks off for artists like me, is just common sense," Fender has said.
Fender is not the first artist to give his Mercury Prize winnings to worthy causes.
In the band received the award in the year 1996 for their release their work, frontman Jarvis Cocker stated that the act would give their winnings to the organization War Child.
In 2002, musician she shared her prize across a few charities, such as the NSPCC and a Sickle Cell charity.
"And I donated a thousand pounds to Highgate Newtown, to their gymnastics class, because I trained in gymnastics when I was younger and they lacked updated gear," she told outlets.
In recent years, the band donated their winnings to the local youth club that nurtured their act, alongside other grassroots music organisations.
Additionally 1994 winners M People contributed their award to a charity for MS after a close contact was diagnosed the disease.
"Receiving the award was sufficient," stated artist Heather Small. "The cash was the bonus but we could do without the cherry, because we had the honor. So our winning touched somebody else's life."
Last week, the MVT announced it had saved two local spots in that region, by placing them under community ownership.
One venue in that area and the other in that location were bought under the community ownership program, which is backed by Arts Council England and enthusiasts who buy "shares" in the properties.
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