🔗 Share this article Sam Fender donates twenty-five thousand pounds Mercury Prize to small live spaces He was awarded the honor last month in his hometown Sam Fender has handed over the entirety of his £25,000 Mercury Prize cash to the trust for venues, which operates to preserve the UK's grassroots music venues. Fender was awarded the award on 16 October as his latest record the album was chosen as the best record of the past year. The musician has opted to give the cash to the Music Venues Trust, in acknowledgment of the vital role local spots had in his initial steps. "I would not have achieved my current career if it weren't for all the gigs I did around the region, and beyond, when I was beginning," said the artist. "These spaces are renowned, but they are facing challenges." Beginning in 2023, over 150 of these spaces have ceased operations – roughly one-sixth of the entire UK sector. In the last year, well-known musicians like Pulp, Coldplay, the singer Katy Perry and Ed Sheeran have all aided the MVT in its initiatives to help venues survive, by adding a modest fee to their admission fees, which benefits independent venues. He also joined in, generating over £100k on his 2024 arena tour to assist thirty-eight grassroots venues across Britain. The money assisted venues that were confronting potential shutdown due to difficulties arising from water damage, blazes and family tragedies, as well as regulatory hurdles, conflicts and noise complaints. Some locations were granted monetary aid in upgrading facilities and technical equipment that directly benefitted musicians and fans. "The concept that funds from shows in large arenas supports the local stages, where it all starts for musicians like me, is just sensible," Sam Fender has said. They are among the artists who donated their honor prize money to charity The musician is not the first artist to donate his honor prize money to charitable organizations. In the band earned the prize in the year 1996 for their record the album, lead singer the singer announced that the act would give their cash to the charity War Child. During 2002, rapper and singer she shared her bounty across multiple charities, such as the children's charity and a Sickle Cell organization. "I also gave a thousand pounds to Highgate Newtown, to their gymnastics class, because I did gymnastics when I was a child and they lacked better apparatus," the artist shared with the media. In recent years, the band contributed their funds to the local youth club that supported their act, as well as other local music groups. Also the 1994 recipients M People contributed their winnings to a multiple sclerosis charity after a acquaintance was found to have the illness. "The victory was ample," stated singer the singer. "The prize was the cherry on top but we didn't require the bonus, because we had the cake. So our victory impacted somebody else's life." In the past week, the Music Venues Trust announced it had rescued two grassroots venues in that region, by bringing them into public stewardship. The first in the city and the second in the city were purchased under the Own Our Venues scheme, which is funded by the arts council and supporters who buy "shares" in the properties.