The artist donates his £25k prize Mercury Prize to grassroots live spaces

The star has handed over the complete sum of his £25,000 honor prize money to the Music Venues Trust, which functions to protect the United Kingdom's grassroots concert spaces.

He was given the cheque on 16 October as his third album his work was chosen as the outstanding release of the previous year.

Fender has decided to hand the money over to the trust, in acknowledgment of the crucial part small stages had in his initial steps.

"I personally couldn't be pursuing my current career if it weren't for all the shows I did around the North East, and beyond, when I was just getting going," remarked Fender. "These venues are legendary, but they are in difficulty."

Beginning in 2023, more than 150 of these spaces have ceased operations – roughly one-sixth of the total UK scene.

Over the past year, top acts such as Pulp, Coldplay, Katy Perry and Ed Sheeran have all supported the MVT in its efforts to keep the scene afloat, by including a modest fee to their admission fees, which benefits smaller concert halls.

Sam Fender also joined in, generating more than £100,000 on his recent tour to support thirty-eight small stages across the UK.

The donation assisted spaces that were facing potential shutdown due to issues arising from flooding, fire incidents and bereavements, as well as permit problems, conflicts and neighbor objections.

Some locations received funding support in improving infrastructure and sound and lighting systems that directly benefitted artists and fans.

"The idea that funds from shows in large arenas backs the local stages, where it kicks off for artists like me, is just logical," the star has said.

The musician is not the first artist to give his award prize money to good deeds.

When the band won the trophy in 1996 for their album Different Class, vocalist the singer stated that the group would donate their cash to the charity War Child.

That year, rapper and singer the artist split her bounty between several charities, like the children's charity and a Sickle Cell charity.

"Additionally, I gave a thousand pounds to my local community centre, to their classes, because I trained in gymnastics when I was growing up and they lacked better apparatus," she told a publication.

Previously, the band donated their winnings to the youth organization that developed their band, as well as other independent music bodies.

Also 1994 winners they donated their prize to a MS organization after a friend was diagnosed the illness.

"The victory was ample," stated vocalist Small. "The money was the cherry on top but we could do without the cherry, because we had the main prize. So our winning affected somebody else's life."

In the past week, the Music Venues Trust revealed it had rescued two local spots in that region, by bringing them into community ownership.

The first in that area and the second in Bristol were acquired under the Own Our Venues initiative, which is funded by the arts council and music fans who purchase "stakes" in the buildings.