Sam Fender has handed over the complete sum of his £25,000 honor prize money to the Music Venues Trust, which works to protect the United Kingdom's grassroots music venues.
Fender was awarded the cheque on mid-October as his latest record his work was chosen as the top album of the last 12 months.
He has chosen to donate the funds to the trust, in recognition of the essential function grassroots venues played in his early career.
"I personally couldn't be pursuing this success if it wasn't for all the gigs I performed around the area, and further afield, when I was starting out," remarked Sam Fender. "These locations are iconic, but they are facing challenges."
Since the start of 2023, more than 150 of these venues have permanently closed – roughly one-sixth of the entire UK sector.
Over the past year, major artists like Pulp, Coldplay, the singer Katy Perry and Ed Sheeran have all backed the MVT in its efforts to keep the scene afloat, by including a modest fee to their admission fees, which benefits local stages.
Fender also took part, generating over £100k on his 2024 arena tour to assist 38 local spots across the UK.
The donation supported locations that were dealing with possible closure due to issues caused by flooding, fire incidents and personal losses, as well as regulatory hurdles, conflicts and neighbor objections.
Other venues received monetary aid in modernizing infrastructure and sound and lighting systems that positively impacted musicians and audiences.
"The notion that money from shows in large arenas helps the independent spots, where it kicks off for musicians like me, is just common sense," the star has stated.
He is far from the only musician to contribute his honor winnings to worthy causes.
When they earned the award in the year 1996 for their album Different Class, vocalist the singer announced that the band would contribute their winnings to the non-profit War Child.
In 2002, artist the artist divided her prize among several organizations, like the children's charity and a Sickle Cell organization.
"I also gave a £1,000 to the center, to their classes, because I did gymnastics when I was younger and they required better apparatus," she explained to the media.
Two years ago, they gave their funds to the community center that developed their act, in addition to other grassroots music organisations.
Additionally winners that year the group gave their prize to a MS organization after a close contact was identified with the disease.
"The victory was quite enough," remarked vocalist Small. "The money was the extra but we could do without the extra, because we had the main prize. So our success impacted another person's life."
In the past week, the trust announced it had rescued several grassroots venues in the South East, by placing them under local control.
One venue in that area and the second in that location were bought under the Own Our Venues scheme, which is backed by Arts Council England and enthusiasts who buy "shares" in the buildings.
