Sam Fender has donated the complete sum of his twenty-five thousand pound honor prize money to the Music Venues Trust, which functions to preserve the United Kingdom's independent live music spots.
He was given the award on 16 October as his new release People Watching was chosen as the best record of the last 12 months.
The musician has chosen to donate the funds to the Music Venues Trust, in acknowledgment of the vital role grassroots venues had in his beginning days.
"I would not have achieved what I am doing today if it wasn't for all the shows I performed around the area, and beyond, when I was starting out," remarked Sam Fender. "These spaces are renowned, but they are in difficulty."
From early 2023 onward, over 150 of these venues have shut down – about one-sixth of the entire UK sector.
In the last year, well-known musicians like the band Pulp, the group Coldplay, Katy Perry and Sheeran have all backed the MVT in its efforts to help venues survive, by applying a modest fee to their admission fees, which goes to help local stages.
Sam Fender also took part, collecting more than £100,000 on his live tour to assist thirty-eight grassroots venues across the UK.
The money supported spaces that were dealing with potential shutdown due to issues arising from flooding, fires and personal losses, as well as permit problems, court cases and neighbor objections.
Some locations received funding support in upgrading amenities and technical equipment that positively impacted artists and fans.
"The concept that money from concerts in large arenas supports the smaller venues, where it all starts for performers like me, is just logical," Fender has stated.
Fender is not the first artist to give his award prize money to good deeds.
When Pulp earned the trophy in 1996 for their album the album, frontman Jarvis Cocker announced that the band would donate their winnings to the non-profit War Child.
That year, rapper and singer she shared her award between several organizations, including the NSPCC and a charity for Sickle Cell.
"And I gave a grand to Highgate Newtown, to their gymnastics program, because I trained in gymnastics when I was younger and they required new equipment," she explained to outlets.
Previously, they contributed their winnings to the youth organization that nurtured their act, alongside other independent music bodies.
Also 1994 winners the group gave their prize to a charity for MS after a acquaintance was diagnosed the condition.
"The victory was sufficient," said artist Heather Small. "The money was the extra but we didn't need the bonus, because we had the main prize. So our victory affected somebody else's life."
Last week, the Music Venues Trust shared it had rescued several local spots in that region, by bringing them into community ownership.
The Joiners in Southampton and The Croft in the city were purchased under the public acquisition program, which is funded by Arts Council England and supporters who buy "stakes" in the buildings.
