Sam Fender has handed over the complete sum of his twenty-five thousand pound award prize money to the MVT, which functions to preserve the Britain's small live music spots.
Fender was awarded the prize on October 16 as his latest record the album was chosen as the outstanding release of the past year.
The musician has chosen to give the cash to the MVT, in appreciation of the crucial part small stages played in his early career.
"As an artist would not have achieved this success if it wasn't for all the shows I performed around the area, and beyond, when I was beginning," said the artist. "These venues are iconic, but they are in difficulty."
Since the start of 2023, over 150 of these venues have permanently closed – roughly 16% of the whole industry in the UK.
In the last year, well-known musicians like Pulp, Coldplay, Katy Perry and Ed Sheeran have all supported the trust in its efforts to keep the scene afloat, by including a minor surcharge to their ticket prices, which benefits local stages.
Fender also participated, collecting in excess of £100,000 on his 2024 arena tour to support thirty-eight local spots across Britain.
The donation helped locations that were dealing with possible closure due to difficulties stemming from floods, blazes and personal losses, as well as licensing issues, legal disputes and neighbor objections.
Other venues obtained financial assistance in improving facilities and gear that positively impacted musicians and audiences.
"The concept that funds from performances in major spaces backs the local stages, where it kicks off for artists like me, is just sensible," Sam Fender has said.
He is not the first artist to donate his award prize money to worthy causes.
Back when they earned the prize in the mid-90s for their album their work, frontman Jarvis Cocker stated that the act would give their winnings to the organization War Child.
That year, rapper and singer she shared her award across a few organizations, such as the NSPCC and a Sickle Cell organization.
"Additionally, I contributed a thousand pounds to my local community centre, to their gymnastics class, because I trained in gymnastics when I was growing up and they required new equipment," she told the media.
Two years ago, Ezra Collective contributed their prize money to the local youth club that supported their act, in addition to other local music groups.
Additionally winners that year the group donated their winnings to a multiple sclerosis charity after a close contact was found to have the illness.
"Receiving the award was ample," remarked singer the singer. "The money was the cherry on top but we didn't need the cherry, because we had the main prize. So our winning affected the lives of others."
Recently, the trust revealed it had saved a couple of grassroots venues in south-east England, by placing them under public stewardship.
The first in that area and the other in the city were bought under the public acquisition scheme, which is supported by a national body and enthusiasts who acquire "shares" in the properties.
