Sam Fender has given the complete sum of his £25,000 honor prize money to the Music Venues Trust, which operates to preserve the United Kingdom's small music venues.
He was given the cheque on October 16 as his latest record People Watching was named the best record of the past year.
He has decided to give the cash to the trust, in appreciation of the vital role grassroots venues had in his beginning days.
"I personally wouldn't be doing what I am doing today if it hadn't been for all the shows I did around the region, and further afield, when I was starting out," said Fender. "These venues are legendary, but they are struggling."
From early 2023 onward, over 150 of these spaces have shut down – about one-sixth of the entire UK sector.
Over the past year, top acts like the band Pulp, Coldplay, Katy Perry and Ed Sheeran have all aided the trust in its attempts to help venues survive, by adding a modest fee to their ticket prices, which goes to help local stages.
He also participated, raising more than £100,000 on his 2024 arena tour to support 38 small stages across the UK.
These funds helped venues that were facing potential shutdown due to issues caused by floods, fires and family tragedies, as well as permit problems, court cases and neighbor objections.
Other venues were granted funding support in improving infrastructure and gear that helped performers and audiences.
"The notion that money from performances in big venues supports the independent spots, where it kicks off for musicians like me, is just common sense," Sam Fender has stated.
The musician is not the first artist to donate his award winnings to worthy causes.
In they earned the award in the year 1996 for their record Different Class, frontman Cocker declared that the act would give their prize money to the charity War Child.
During 2002, artist the artist divided her bounty between multiple good causes, such as the NSPCC and a Sickle Cell organization.
"I also gave a £1,000 to Highgate Newtown, to their gymnastics class, because I trained in gymnastics when I was growing up and they lacked better apparatus," she told a publication.
In recent years, the band contributed their winnings to the youth organization that nurtured their group, in addition to other independent music bodies.
And winners that year the group contributed their prize to a MS organization after a acquaintance was identified with the condition.
"The victory was ample," stated vocalist Small. "The money was the bonus but we didn't need the extra, because we had the cake. So our winning affected somebody else's life."
Last week, the trust shared it had protected a couple of local spots in that region, by placing them under local control.
One venue in that area and the second in that location were bought under the public acquisition scheme, which is supported by a national body and music fans who acquire "shares" in the venues.
