Sam Fender has handed over the complete sum of his £25k award cash to the Music Venues Trust, which functions to save the UK's grassroots live music spots.
He was presented with the prize on October 16 as his third album his work was chosen as the top album of the past year.
The musician has decided to donate the funds to the trust, in appreciation of the essential function small stages played in his beginning days.
"I personally couldn't be pursuing what I am doing today if it wasn't for all the performances I played around the area, and elsewhere, when I was starting out," stated Sam Fender. "These venues are renowned, but they are facing challenges."
From early 2023 onward, over 150 of these locations have permanently closed – about 16% of the entire UK sector.
Recently, well-known musicians including Pulp, the group Coldplay, Katy Perry and Sheeran have all aided the Music Venues Trust in its efforts to help venues survive, by including a modest fee to their ticket costs, which goes to help local stages.
Fender also took part, raising more than £100,000 on his recent tour to assist thirty-eight grassroots venues across England, Scotland, and Wales.
The donation assisted spaces that were confronting possible closure due to challenges stemming from floods, fire incidents and family tragedies, as well as regulatory hurdles, legal disputes and noise complaints.
Additional spaces were granted funding support in modernizing facilities and gear that directly benefitted performers and fans.
"The notion that revenue from performances in major spaces backs the independent spots, where it all starts for artists like me, is just logical," the star has said.
He is among several artists to give his award funds to worthy causes.
In the band earned the award in 1996 for their album their work, vocalist Jarvis Cocker announced that the band would donate their cash to the charity War Child.
During 2002, rapper and singer she divided her award across multiple organizations, including the NSPCC and a Sickle Cell charity.
"Additionally, I gave a £1,000 to Highgate Newtown, to their gymnastics class, because I did gymnastics when I was growing up and they required better apparatus," she shared with the media.
In recent years, Ezra Collective contributed their prize money to the community center that supported their act, alongside other independent music bodies.
Additionally winners that year they contributed their award to a MS organization after a close contact was found to have the condition.
"Receiving the award was ample," stated artist Heather Small. "The money was the cherry on top but we didn't require the extra, because we had the main prize. So our victory affected the lives of others."
Last week, the Music Venues Trust shared it had rescued several grassroots venues in that region, by transferring them to public stewardship.
The first in Southampton and The Croft in Bristol were bought under the public acquisition initiative, which is backed by the arts council and supporters who purchase "stakes" in the properties.
