Sam Fender has given the entirety of his twenty-five thousand pound award prize money to the trust for venues, which works to save the United Kingdom's independent music venues.
Fender was given the prize on mid-October as his new release his work was named the best record of the past year.
The musician has chosen to donate the funds to the Music Venues Trust, in recognition of the crucial part small stages played in his beginning days.
"I personally wouldn't be doing what I am doing today if it hadn't been for all the shows I did around the North East, and further afield, when I was starting out," stated Sam Fender. "These spaces are iconic, but they are facing challenges."
From early 2023 onward, over 150 of these venues have ceased operations – approximately one-sixth of the total UK scene.
In the last year, major artists like Pulp, the group Coldplay, Katy Perry and Ed Sheeran have all backed the Music Venues Trust in its initiatives to keep the scene afloat, by adding a small levy to their ticket costs, which benefits local stages.
Sam Fender also participated, collecting over £100k on his 2024 arena tour to help thirty-eight small stages across Britain.
The money assisted locations that were facing imminent closure due to difficulties caused by floods, blazes and bereavements, as well as licensing issues, conflicts and sound issues.
Some locations were granted financial assistance in improving infrastructure and gear that helped performers and fans.
"The concept that revenue from shows in big venues backs the local stages, where it begins for performers like me, is just common sense," Sam Fender has commented.
He is not the first artist to contribute his Mercury Prize prize money to charitable organizations.
In they won the trophy in 1996 for their record Different Class, lead singer Jarvis Cocker stated that the group would contribute their prize money to the charity the charity.
In 2002, musician she split her bounty between several good causes, including the NSPCC and a Sickle Cell charity.
"And I contributed a £1,000 to my local community centre, to their gymnastics program, because I practiced gymnastics when I was younger and they lacked better apparatus," Ms Dynamite explained to outlets.
In recent years, the band gave their prize money to the community center that supported their band, alongside other grassroots music organisations.
Additionally winners that year they gave their winnings to a MS organization after a friend was diagnosed the illness.
"Winning was quite enough," stated singer the singer. "The cash was the extra but we didn't need the extra, because we had the cake. So our victory touched somebody else's life."
In the past week, the trust revealed it had rescued a couple of local spots in that region, by placing them under local control.
One venue in that area and the second in Bristol were purchased under the Own Our Venues program, which is funded by Arts Council England and music fans who acquire "stakes" in the properties.
