The artist gives £25,000 cash award to small music venues

Sam Fender has handed over the complete sum of his twenty-five thousand pound honor cash to the Music Venues Trust, which operates to protect the United Kingdom's independent live music spots.

Fender was awarded the cheque on October 16 as his new release the album was chosen as the outstanding release of the past year.

Fender has chosen to hand the money over 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 what I am doing today if it hadn't been for all the gigs I performed around the area, and elsewhere, when I was just getting going," said Sam Fender. "These spaces are iconic, but they are struggling."

Since the start of 2023, at least 150 of these venues have ceased operations – about 16% of the whole industry in the UK.

Recently, well-known musicians like Pulp, Coldplay, the singer Katy Perry and Ed Sheeran have all backed the Music Venues Trust in its efforts to support the industry, by applying a minor surcharge to their ticket prices, which benefits smaller concert halls.

Fender also joined in, raising in excess of £100,000 on his live tour to help 38 small stages across Britain.

The money helped venues that were confronting potential shutdown due to difficulties arising from flooding, fire incidents and personal losses, as well as permit problems, court cases and sound issues.

Some locations obtained monetary aid in upgrading infrastructure and technical equipment that helped musicians and fans.

"The concept that funds from shows in big venues backs the local stages, where it kicks off for musicians like me, is just common sense," the star has commented.

The musician is not the first artist to contribute his Mercury Prize funds to charitable organizations.

When Pulp won the prize in 1996 for their album the album, lead singer Jarvis Cocker stated that the band would donate their prize money to the organization War Child.

That year, musician Ms Dynamite shared her bounty between multiple good causes, including the NSPCC and a Sickle Cell charity.

"And I gave a grand to the center, to their gymnastics program, because I trained in gymnastics when I was a child and they lacked better apparatus," Ms Dynamite told a publication.

Two years ago, the band contributed their prize money to the youth organization that developed their group, in addition to other independent music bodies.

And 1994 winners they donated their prize to a MS organization after a close contact was diagnosed the condition.

"Receiving the award was quite enough," remarked vocalist Small. "The money was the bonus but we could do without the bonus, because we had the main prize. So our winning affected another person's life."

In the past week, the trust announced it had protected a couple of small stages in that region, by bringing them into community ownership.

The first in that area and the other in the city were acquired under the community ownership program, which is backed by Arts Council England and enthusiasts who purchase "shares" in the venues.