🔗 Share this article

Sam Fender has handed over the full amount of his £25,000 Mercury Prize prize money to the Music Venues Trust, which operates to protect the UK's small concert spaces.

He was presented with the prize on October 16 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 Music Venues Trust, in recognition of the vital role grassroots venues fulfilled in his beginning days.

"I couldn't be pursuing this success if it weren't for all the gigs I played around the area, and further afield, when I was just getting going," remarked Fender. "These venues are renowned, but they are facing challenges."

Beginning in 2023, at least 150 of these locations have shut down – roughly one-sixth of the entire UK sector.

Recently, well-known musicians such as the band Pulp, Coldplay, Katy Perry and Sheeran have all backed the MVT in its efforts to help venues survive, by including a modest fee to their ticket prices, which supports independent venues.

He also joined in, raising over £100k on his recent tour to help thirty-eight small stages across England, Scotland, and Wales.

These funds helped locations that were facing imminent closure due to challenges stemming from floods, fire incidents and bereavements, as well as licensing issues, court cases and sound issues.

Additional spaces received monetary aid in improving facilities and sound and lighting systems that directly benefitted musicians and fans.

"The notion that revenue from shows in big venues helps the independent spots, where it begins for performers like me, is just logical," Sam Fender has stated.

The musician is not the first artist to contribute his award winnings to worthy causes.

Back when the band won the prize in the year 1996 for their record their work, lead singer Jarvis Cocker announced that the act would contribute their winnings to the organization War Child.

During 2002, rapper and singer she split her prize among several organizations, like the NSPCC and a Sickle Cell organization.

"And I contributed a thousand pounds to my local community centre, to their classes, because I practiced gymnastics when I was growing up and they needed better apparatus," Ms Dynamite explained to the media.

Previously, Ezra Collective donated their winnings to the community center that supported their act, in addition to other grassroots music organisations.

And the 1994 recipients the group donated their award to a charity for MS after a friend was found to have the illness.

"Winning was sufficient," said singer Heather Small. "The money was the cherry on top but we didn't need the extra, because we had the honor. So our winning affected another person's life."

In the past week, the MVT shared it had protected several grassroots venues in the South East, by transferring them to community ownership.

The Joiners in Southampton and the second in Bristol were purchased under the community ownership program, which is backed by Arts Council England and enthusiasts who purchase "ownership units" in the properties.