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The musician donates his £25k prize cash award to small concert halls

The singer accepting his trophy in the North East
He received the Mercury Prize last month in Newcastle

The artist has donated the complete sum of his £25,000 honor cash to the trust for venues, which works to protect the Britain's grassroots concert spaces.

The star was presented with the award on mid-October as his new release his work was chosen as the top album of the previous year.

Fender has decided to hand the money over to the MVT, in recognition of the essential function local spots had in his beginning days.

"I couldn't be pursuing what I am doing today if it hadn't been for all the shows I performed around the area, and beyond, when I was starting out," remarked Sam Fender. "These venues are iconic, but they are in difficulty."

Since the start of 2023, over 150 of these locations have ceased operations – about one-sixth of the whole industry in the UK.

Over the past year, top acts such as the band Pulp, Coldplay, Katy Perry and Ed Sheeran have all backed the MVT in its attempts to keep the scene afloat, by applying a modest fee to their admission fees, which goes to help local stages.

He also took part, collecting in excess of £100,000 on his live tour to assist 38 small stages across Britain.

These funds assisted venues that were facing possible closure due to issues arising from floods, fire incidents and bereavements, as well as permit problems, court cases and noise complaints.

Additional spaces were granted funding support in upgrading amenities and sound and lighting systems that directly benefitted performers and fans.

"The concept that revenue from shows in large arenas backs the smaller venues, where it begins for artists like me, is just logical," Sam Fender has stated.

Pulp members in concert
They are one of the many acts who donated their honor prize money to charity

He is among several artists to donate his honor funds to good deeds.

Back when they received the award in the year 1996 for their record Different Class, vocalist Jarvis Cocker declared that the act would give their cash to the charity War Child.

During 2002, artist Ms Dynamite shared her bounty across a few organizations, including the NSPCC and a Sickle Cell charity.

"And I gave a thousand pounds to Highgate Newtown, to their classes, because I trained in gymnastics when I was growing up and they needed updated gear," the artist shared with a publication.

Two years ago, Ezra Collective donated their funds to the local youth club that supported their band, alongside other grassroots music organisations.

And 1994 winners the group gave their prize to a MS organization after a close contact was diagnosed the illness.

"The victory was ample," said vocalist Heather Small. "The money was the extra but we didn't require the extra, because we had the cake. So our success touched the lives of others."

In the past week, the MVT shared it had rescued two grassroots venues in south-east England, by bringing them into local control.

One venue in that area and the other in that location were bought under the community ownership program, which is backed by a national body and supporters who acquire "stakes" in the properties.

The writer

Nicole Anderson

Maya Chen is a tech journalist and software engineer with over a decade of experience in AI research and digital innovation.

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