Sam Fender has given the entirety of his twenty-five thousand pound Mercury Prize winnings to the trust for venues, which works to protect the Britain's grassroots concert spaces.
He was given the prize on 16 October as his third album his work was chosen as the outstanding release of the past year.
Fender has decided to hand the money over to the trust, in recognition of the essential function grassroots venues had in his beginning days.
"I personally would not have achieved this success if it weren't for all the shows I performed around the region, and beyond, when I was starting out," said Fender. "These venues are renowned, but they are struggling."
Since the start of 2023, over 150 of these spaces have ceased operations – about 16 percent of the total UK scene.
Over the past year, top acts such as Pulp, the group Coldplay, the singer Katy Perry and Ed Sheeran have all supported the trust in its attempts to support the industry, by adding a modest fee to their ticket costs, which benefits independent venues.
Sam Fender also joined in, generating over £100k on his 2024 arena tour to assist 38 small stages across Britain.
The money supported spaces that were facing possible closure due to challenges arising from floods, blazes and bereavements, as well as licensing issues, conflicts and sound issues.
Some locations obtained monetary aid in modernizing infrastructure and sound and lighting systems that positively impacted musicians and audiences.
"The concept that revenue from shows in large arenas backs the smaller venues, where it kicks off for artists like me, is just sensible," Sam Fender has stated.
The musician is far from the only musician to contribute his award funds to worthy causes.
When they received the prize in the year 1996 for their release the album, frontman the singer announced that the act would donate their cash to the non-profit War Child.
That year, artist the artist split her prize across several charities, such as the NSPCC and a charity for Sickle Cell.
"I also contributed a thousand pounds to my local community centre, to their gymnastics class, because I did gymnastics when I was younger and they lacked new equipment," the artist told a publication.
Two years ago, they donated their winnings to the local youth club that nurtured their band, as well as other grassroots music organisations.
And the 1994 recipients M People donated their award to a charity for MS after a close contact was diagnosed the illness.
"Winning was ample," said singer Small. "The prize was the cherry on top but we could do without the cherry, because we had the main prize. So our success touched somebody else's life."
Recently, the MVT revealed it had rescued several small stages in south-east England, by bringing them into local control.
One venue in that area and The Croft in the city were bought under the public acquisition scheme, which is funded by a national body and music fans who acquire "stakes" in the properties.
