Sam Fender has handed over the complete sum of his twenty-five thousand pound honor winnings to the Music Venues Trust, which works to save the Britain's small live music spots.
The star was presented with the award on October 16 as his latest record the album was chosen as the outstanding release of the past year.
The musician has chosen to donate the funds to the Music Venues Trust, in acknowledgment of the essential function grassroots venues had in his early career.
"I couldn't be pursuing this success if it wasn't for all the gigs I did around the region, and further afield, when I was just getting going," said the artist. "These spaces are renowned, but they are in difficulty."
From early 2023 onward, more than 150 of these spaces have shut down – approximately 16 percent of the whole industry in the UK.
In the last year, major artists such as Pulp, Coldplay, the singer Katy Perry and Sheeran have all aided the Music Venues Trust in its efforts to help venues survive, by including a modest fee to their admission fees, which benefits local stages.
He also joined in, collecting in excess of £100,000 on his recent tour to help 38 small stages across Britain.
The donation supported spaces that were dealing with possible closure due to issues stemming from water damage, fires and family tragedies, as well as licensing issues, court cases and sound issues.
Additional spaces were granted financial assistance in improving infrastructure and gear that directly benefitted artists and concertgoers.
"The concept that revenue from concerts in large arenas helps the local stages, where it begins for performers like me, is just sensible," Fender has commented.
Fender is far from the only musician to give his Mercury Prize winnings to charitable organizations.
When they received the prize in the mid-90s for their album Different Class, vocalist Jarvis Cocker announced that the band would give their winnings to the organization War Child.
That year, musician the artist split her bounty between multiple organizations, including the NSPCC and a Sickle Cell organization.
"Additionally, I contributed a thousand pounds to the center, to their classes, because I practiced gymnastics when I was a child and they needed better apparatus," Ms Dynamite shared with a publication.
In recent years, Ezra Collective donated their prize money to the local youth club that supported their group, as well as other grassroots music organisations.
Additionally the 1994 recipients the group donated their prize to a charity for MS after a acquaintance was found to have the disease.
"Winning was ample," said singer the singer. "The money was the extra but we didn't require the cherry, because we had the cake. So our winning touched somebody else's life."
Last week, the MVT revealed it had saved two local spots in south-east England, by bringing them into local control.
One venue in that area and The Croft in that location were acquired under the community ownership scheme, which is backed by a national body and supporters who purchase "stakes" in the venues.
