Sam Fender has donated the full amount of his twenty-five thousand pound honor winnings to the Music Venues Trust, which works to save the Britain's independent concert spaces.
Fender was given the award on mid-October as his latest record the album was declared the outstanding release of the previous year.
Fender has opted to hand the money over to the MVT, in appreciation of the vital role local spots played in his initial steps.
"As an artist couldn't be pursuing what I am doing today if it hadn't been for all the gigs I did around the area, and elsewhere, when I was beginning," remarked Fender. "These locations are renowned, but they are struggling."
Beginning in 2023, over 150 of these locations have shut down – approximately 16 percent of the whole industry in the UK.
In the last year, major artists like Pulp, Coldplay, Katy Perry and Sheeran have all supported the MVT in its initiatives to help venues survive, by including a minor surcharge to their ticket prices, which supports smaller concert halls.
Sam Fender also took part, raising over £100k on his 2024 arena tour to assist thirty-eight grassroots venues across England, Scotland, and Wales.
The money supported locations that were dealing with possible closure due to challenges stemming from flooding, fires and personal losses, as well as regulatory hurdles, court cases and noise complaints.
Some locations were granted monetary aid in upgrading amenities and gear that directly benefitted musicians and fans.
"The concept that revenue from shows in big venues helps the local stages, where it kicks off for musicians like me, is just logical," the star has stated.
The musician is far from the only musician to donate his Mercury Prize prize money to worthy causes.
When the band earned the trophy in 1996 for their release Different Class, lead singer Jarvis Cocker stated that the act would donate their winnings to the organization War Child.
During 2002, rapper and singer the artist split her bounty across multiple organizations, including the NSPCC and a Sickle Cell organization.
"And I gave a £1,000 to Highgate Newtown, to their gymnastics program, because I practiced gymnastics when I was a child and they required better apparatus," Ms Dynamite shared with outlets.
In recent years, the band gave their prize money to the community center that developed their act, in addition to other independent music bodies.
Additionally winners that year the group contributed their prize to a MS organization after a close contact was found to have the disease.
"Winning was quite enough," said artist the singer. "The cash was the cherry on top but we could do without the cherry, because we had the cake. So our winning impacted the lives of others."
Recently, the MVT revealed it had saved several grassroots venues in the South East, by placing them under public stewardship.
One venue in that area and The Croft in Bristol were bought under the Own Our Venues program, which is backed by Arts Council England and supporters who acquire "shares" in the properties.
