Sam Fender has handed over the full amount of his £25,000 honor prize money to the Music Venues Trust, which works to protect the United Kingdom's grassroots live music spots.
Fender was given the prize on 16 October as his new release the album was named the best record of the last 12 months.
Fender has decided to give the cash to the MVT, in acknowledgment of the essential function grassroots venues played in his beginning days.
"I personally wouldn't be doing this success if it weren't for all the gigs I did around the region, and elsewhere, when I was starting out," said Sam Fender. "These venues are renowned, but they are struggling."
Beginning in 2023, over 150 of these venues have shut down – about 16 percent of the entire UK sector.
In the last year, major artists including Pulp, the group Coldplay, the singer Katy Perry and Ed Sheeran have all aided the Music Venues Trust in its efforts to help venues survive, by adding a minor surcharge to their ticket costs, which goes to help local stages.
He also joined in, generating in excess of £100,000 on his live tour to assist thirty-eight small stages across the UK.
The donation supported locations that were dealing with possible closure due to difficulties caused by water damage, fire incidents and family tragedies, as well as licensing issues, conflicts and neighbor objections.
Some locations obtained financial assistance in modernizing infrastructure and technical equipment that directly benefitted musicians and concertgoers.
"The notion that revenue from concerts in major spaces supports the local stages, where it all starts for performers like me, is just logical," Fender has stated.
Fender is not the first artist to contribute his honor funds to good deeds.
When the band received the prize in 1996 for their album the album, frontman Cocker declared that the group would donate their prize money to the charity War Child.
In 2002, rapper and singer the artist shared her award among a few good causes, such as the NSPCC and a Sickle Cell organization.
"And I donated a grand to my local community centre, to their gymnastics program, because I practiced gymnastics when I was growing up and they needed updated gear," the artist shared with a publication.
In recent years, Ezra Collective donated their winnings to the community center that developed their act, as well as other grassroots music organisations.
Additionally winners that year the group donated their award to a MS organization after a acquaintance was found to have the illness.
"Winning was quite enough," remarked artist Small. "The cash was the extra but we could do without the bonus, because we had the main prize. So our winning touched the lives of others."
Last week, the MVT announced it had saved a couple of small stages in south-east England, by placing them under local control.
The first in that area and the other in that location were bought under the public acquisition initiative, which is supported by Arts Council England and supporters who buy "stakes" in the venues.
