Sam Fender has donated the complete sum of his twenty-five thousand pound honor winnings to the Music Venues Trust, which works to protect the Britain's grassroots music venues.
Fender was given the award on mid-October as his third album People Watching was chosen as the outstanding release of the previous year.
He has decided to hand the money over to the MVT, in acknowledgment of the vital role small stages played in his initial steps.
"I couldn't be pursuing my current career if it wasn't for all the shows I did around the region, and further afield, when I was starting out," remarked the artist. "These venues are iconic, but they are facing challenges."
Beginning in 2023, over 150 of these venues have shut down – about 16% of the whole industry in the UK.
Recently, top acts including Pulp, Coldplay, Katy Perry and Ed Sheeran have all supported the MVT in its attempts to help venues survive, by including a small levy to their admission fees, which benefits smaller concert halls.
He also took part, raising in excess of £100,000 on his live tour to assist numerous grassroots venues across England, Scotland, and Wales.
The donation assisted locations that were facing imminent closure due to challenges arising from floods, fires and family tragedies, as well as licensing issues, court cases and neighbor objections.
Additional spaces obtained financial assistance in modernizing infrastructure and technical equipment that directly benefitted musicians and audiences.
"The concept that money from performances in major spaces supports the local stages, where it all starts for artists like me, is just common sense," Sam Fender has said.
He is among several artists to give his honor prize money to good deeds.
Back when Pulp won the trophy in the year 1996 for their release the album, frontman Cocker declared that the act would give their prize money to the charity the charity.
During 2002, musician the artist shared her bounty across a few good causes, including the NSPCC and a Sickle Cell organization.
"And I gave a grand to Highgate Newtown, to their gymnastics class, because I did gymnastics when I was a child and they required new equipment," she explained to outlets.
In recent years, they gave their funds to the community center that nurtured their band, alongside other independent music bodies.
Also winners that year they contributed their award to a MS organization after a acquaintance was identified with the condition.
"The victory was ample," stated artist the singer. "The prize was the bonus but we didn't need the bonus, because we had the main prize. So our victory affected somebody else's life."
Recently, the trust announced it had protected a couple of local spots in that region, by transferring them to local control.
The first in Southampton and The Croft in Bristol were purchased under the public acquisition scheme, which is funded by the arts council and music fans who buy "ownership units" in the properties.
