🔗 Share this article

Sam Fender has donated the complete sum of his £25,000 award cash to the MVT, which functions to protect the United Kingdom's independent concert spaces.

He was awarded the prize on October 16 as his third album People Watching was declared the outstanding release of the previous year.

The musician has opted to donate the funds to the Music Venues Trust, in recognition of the essential function local spots fulfilled in his initial steps.

"I couldn't be pursuing this success if it hadn't been for all the performances I performed around the North East, and beyond, when I was just getting going," said the artist. "These locations are iconic, but they are facing challenges."

Since the start of 2023, over 150 of these venues have shut down – roughly one-sixth of the total UK scene.

In the last year, top acts such as Pulp, Coldplay, Katy Perry and Ed Sheeran have all aided the Music Venues Trust in its initiatives to support the industry, by adding a small levy to their admission fees, which supports independent venues.

Fender also participated, generating more than £100,000 on his 2024 arena tour to help 38 local spots across Britain.

The donation assisted locations that were dealing with imminent closure due to challenges stemming from water damage, fire incidents and bereavements, as well as permit problems, legal disputes and neighbor objections.

Additional spaces obtained financial assistance in upgrading infrastructure and sound and lighting systems that positively impacted musicians and concertgoers.

"The idea that revenue from concerts in big venues supports the smaller venues, where it kicks off for artists like me, is just sensible," Fender has stated.

Fender is not the first artist to give his Mercury Prize prize money to good deeds.

When Pulp earned the award in the year 1996 for their record the album, vocalist the singer announced that the act would give their cash to the non-profit War Child.

That year, musician she shared her prize among multiple charities, including the NSPCC and a Sickle Cell organization.

"And I gave a £1,000 to Highgate Newtown, to their gymnastics class, because I practiced gymnastics when I was younger and they needed updated gear," Ms Dynamite told a publication.

Two years ago, they donated their prize money to the community center that developed their act, alongside other grassroots music organisations.

Also 1994 winners the group gave their prize to a MS organization after a close contact was diagnosed the disease.

"Winning was ample," stated singer Small. "The prize was the extra but we didn't need the extra, because we had the main prize. So our winning impacted somebody else's life."

Last week, the trust shared it had saved two small stages in south-east England, by placing them under local control.

The Joiners in Southampton and The Croft in Bristol were acquired under the community ownership initiative, which is funded by a national body and supporters who buy "stakes" in the properties.