Sam Fender has donated the complete sum of his twenty-five thousand pound honor winnings to the Music Venues Trust, which functions to preserve the United Kingdom's small concert spaces.
He was awarded the prize on 16 October as his new release People Watching was named the best record of the last 12 months.
He has decided to donate the funds to the Music Venues Trust, in acknowledgment of the crucial part small stages played in his early career.
"As an artist would not have achieved my current career if it weren't for all the gigs I played around the region, and elsewhere, when I was beginning," stated the artist. "These venues are legendary, but they are struggling."
Since the start of 2023, more than 150 of these locations have shut down – roughly 16% of the total UK scene.
In the last year, major artists like Pulp, the group Coldplay, the singer Katy Perry and Sheeran have all backed the Music Venues Trust in its efforts to keep the scene afloat, by adding a minor surcharge to their ticket costs, which supports smaller concert halls.
He also took part, raising over £100k on his live tour to help thirty-eight small stages across the UK.
The donation supported spaces that were confronting potential shutdown due to challenges caused by floods, fires and family tragedies, as well as regulatory hurdles, court cases and noise complaints.
Some locations received funding support in modernizing infrastructure and sound and lighting systems that positively impacted artists and audiences.
"The idea that money from shows in major spaces helps the local stages, where it begins for performers like me, is just logical," Fender has stated.
The musician is not the first artist to donate his award funds to charitable organizations.
In Pulp won the award in the year 1996 for their record their work, lead singer Jarvis Cocker announced that the group would donate their cash to the organization the charity.
In 2002, rapper and singer she shared her award among multiple good causes, including the NSPCC and a Sickle Cell organization.
"Additionally, I gave a thousand pounds to Highgate Newtown, to their gymnastics program, because I did gymnastics when I was a child and they needed new equipment," Ms Dynamite shared with a publication.
In recent years, they gave their funds to the community center that supported their act, in addition to other independent music bodies.
And winners that year the group contributed their winnings to a multiple sclerosis charity after a acquaintance was identified with the disease.
"The victory was ample," said vocalist the singer. "The cash was the bonus but we could do without the bonus, because we had the honor. So our success touched the lives of others."
Last week, the trust shared it had rescued two small stages in that region, by transferring them to public stewardship.
The Joiners in the city and The Croft in the city were purchased under the public acquisition initiative, which is funded by Arts Council England and enthusiasts who purchase "shares" in the venues.
