Sam Fender has handed over the complete sum of his £25k award prize money to the Music Venues Trust, which works to save the United Kingdom's small music venues.
The star was given the award on mid-October as his new release People Watching was declared the best record of the past year.
Fender has opted to donate the funds to the trust, in acknowledgment of the vital role local spots had in his beginning days.
"As an artist couldn't be pursuing my current career if it weren't for all the shows I performed around the region, and further afield, when I was beginning," said the artist. "These spaces are renowned, but they are struggling."
From early 2023 onward, at least 150 of these venues have shut down – roughly one-sixth of the whole industry in the UK.
In the last year, well-known musicians such as Pulp, Coldplay, the singer Katy Perry and Ed Sheeran have all backed the trust in its initiatives to help venues survive, by including a small levy to their ticket prices, which supports local stages.
Fender also participated, generating more than £100,000 on his 2024 arena tour to support numerous grassroots venues across Britain.
These funds supported venues that were confronting imminent closure due to challenges arising from floods, blazes and bereavements, as well as regulatory hurdles, court cases and neighbor objections.
Other venues were granted funding support in upgrading amenities and gear that positively impacted artists and audiences.
"The concept that money from performances in major spaces helps the independent spots, where it kicks off for musicians like me, is just logical," Fender has stated.
The musician is not the first artist to contribute his award funds to worthy causes.
When Pulp received the prize in the mid-90s for their album the album, vocalist the singer stated that the band would give their cash to the charity War Child.
In 2002, artist the artist shared her award among several good causes, such as the NSPCC and a Sickle Cell charity.
"And I donated a £1,000 to the center, to their classes, because I practiced gymnastics when I was younger and they lacked new equipment," she explained to the media.
Previously, the band donated their winnings to the community center that developed their group, in addition to other independent music bodies.
Also the 1994 recipients they contributed their winnings to a MS organization after a close contact was identified with the disease.
"Winning was quite enough," stated artist the singer. "The money was the cherry on top but we didn't need the cherry, because we had the cake. So our winning affected another person's life."
Last week, the trust shared it had rescued several small stages in that region, by placing them under public stewardship.
One venue in the city and the second in the city were bought under the public acquisition program, which is funded by Arts Council England and supporters who buy "ownership units" in the venues.
