🔗 Share this article

The artist has handed over the full amount of his £25,000 Mercury Prize winnings to the MVT, which operates to save the UK's grassroots music venues.

He was given the cheque on mid-October as his latest record his work was named the outstanding release of the previous year.

Fender has chosen to donate the funds to the Music Venues Trust, in recognition of the vital role local spots played in his early career.

"I wouldn't be doing this success if it wasn't for all the shows I played around the area, and elsewhere, when I was beginning," remarked Sam Fender. "These spaces are renowned, but they are struggling."

Since the start of 2023, at least 150 of these locations have ceased operations – approximately one-sixth of the total UK scene.

In the last year, top acts including the band Pulp, Coldplay, the singer Katy Perry and Ed Sheeran have all aided the trust in its initiatives to help venues survive, by adding a small levy to their admission fees, which supports smaller concert halls.

Sam Fender also participated, raising more than £100,000 on his 2024 arena tour to support 38 small stages across Britain.

The donation helped spaces that were facing possible closure due to difficulties caused by flooding, fires and bereavements, as well as regulatory hurdles, conflicts and neighbor objections.

Other venues obtained funding support in improving facilities and technical equipment that helped artists and concertgoers.

"The notion that revenue from performances in big venues backs the local stages, where it all starts for musicians like me, is just common sense," Fender has stated.

He is not the first artist to give his honor funds to charitable organizations.

When the band received the prize in the mid-90s for their release the album, frontman Cocker announced that the band would give their cash to the organization War Child.

That year, rapper and singer the artist shared her bounty between multiple charities, such as the NSPCC and a Sickle Cell charity.

"Additionally, I donated a grand to Highgate Newtown, to their gymnastics class, because I practiced gymnastics when I was younger and they needed better apparatus," Ms Dynamite told a publication.

Previously, Ezra Collective gave their funds to the community center that supported their band, as well as other local music groups.

And the 1994 recipients they contributed their winnings to a charity for MS after a close contact was diagnosed the illness.

"The victory was sufficient," remarked artist Heather Small. "The money was the bonus but we could do without the bonus, because we had the honor. So our success impacted another person's life."

Recently, the MVT revealed it had saved a couple of small stages in the South East, by bringing them into local control.

The first in Southampton and The Croft in Bristol were acquired under the Own Our Venues scheme, which is backed by Arts Council England and music fans who acquire "shares" in the buildings.