🔗 Share this article The artist gives £25,000 Mercury Prize to independent music venues Sam Fender was awarded the honor recently in his hometown Sam Fender has given the complete sum of his £25k award winnings to the trust for venues, which works to preserve the UK's small music venues. The star was presented with the award on mid-October as his latest record his work was declared the outstanding release of the last 12 months. The musician has opted to give the cash to the MVT, in acknowledgment of the vital role small stages played in his initial steps. "I personally couldn't be pursuing this success if it hadn't been for all the gigs I played around the region, and beyond, when I was just getting going," stated the artist. "These spaces are renowned, but they are in difficulty." Beginning in 2023, at least 150 of these spaces have shut down – about 16 percent of the whole industry in the UK. In the last year, top acts such as Pulp, Coldplay, Katy Perry and Sheeran have all supported the Music Venues Trust in its initiatives to help venues survive, by adding a modest fee to their ticket prices, which benefits smaller concert halls. Sam Fender also took part, collecting over £100k on his live tour to help numerous small stages across Britain. The donation helped venues that were facing potential shutdown due to difficulties stemming from water damage, blazes and family tragedies, as well as licensing issues, legal disputes and sound issues. Additional spaces obtained monetary aid in improving infrastructure and sound and lighting systems that positively impacted musicians and concertgoers. "The concept that money from concerts in major spaces backs the smaller venues, where it kicks off for musicians like me, is just common sense," Fender has stated. The group are one of the many acts who contributed their Mercury Prize prize money to non-profits The musician is far from the only musician to give his honor winnings to worthy causes. In the band won the trophy in 1996 for their album Different Class, frontman the singer declared that the group would give their cash to the non-profit the charity. In 2002, musician the artist split her bounty across multiple organizations, like the children's charity and a Sickle Cell charity. "And I donated a thousand pounds to Highgate Newtown, to their gymnastics class, because I trained in gymnastics when I was a child and they needed updated gear," Ms Dynamite shared with a publication. Two years ago, the band gave their winnings to the local youth club that developed their act, in addition to other independent music bodies. Additionally 1994 winners M People donated their award to a multiple sclerosis charity after a close contact was identified with the condition. "Receiving the award was sufficient," said vocalist Heather Small. "The prize was the bonus but we didn't need the extra, because we had the main prize. So our winning touched another person's life." In the past week, the trust shared it had saved several grassroots venues in that region, by bringing them into community ownership. The first in that area and the other in that location were acquired under the community ownership initiative, which is supported by a national body and supporters who buy "ownership units" in the properties.