🔗 Share this article

The star has handed over the complete sum of his £25,000 award prize money to the trust for venues, which operates to preserve the United Kingdom's small live music spots.

He was awarded the prize on October 16 as his latest record the album was declared the outstanding release of the last 12 months.

The musician has chosen to hand the money over to the Music Venues Trust, in acknowledgment of the crucial part grassroots venues played in his initial steps.

"I personally would not have achieved this success if it wasn't for all the performances I performed around the region, and further afield, when I was starting out," said the artist. "These spaces are renowned, but they are in difficulty."

Since the start of 2023, over 150 of these locations have ceased operations – approximately 16 percent of the whole industry in the UK.

In the last year, major artists such as Pulp, the group Coldplay, the singer Katy Perry and Sheeran have all supported the Music Venues Trust in its initiatives to keep the scene afloat, by including a minor surcharge to their ticket prices, which goes to help local stages.

Fender also joined in, raising more than £100,000 on his 2024 arena tour to support thirty-eight local spots across Britain.

The donation helped locations that were confronting imminent closure due to challenges arising from floods, fire incidents and personal losses, as well as regulatory hurdles, conflicts and noise complaints.

Additional spaces obtained funding support in improving infrastructure and sound and lighting systems that positively impacted performers and fans.

"The concept that funds from shows in big venues supports the local stages, where it begins for artists like me, is just logical," Sam Fender has said.

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

When they earned the trophy in 1996 for their release their work, frontman Jarvis Cocker declared that the band would give their winnings to the charity War Child.

That year, artist Ms Dynamite shared her award among multiple charities, like the NSPCC and a Sickle Cell organization.

"I also contributed a £1,000 to my local community centre, to their gymnastics program, because I practiced gymnastics when I was younger and they required new equipment," she explained to outlets.

In recent years, Ezra Collective donated their winnings to the youth organization that developed their act, alongside other independent music bodies.

And the 1994 recipients the group gave their winnings to a charity for MS after a friend was found to have the disease.

"The victory was ample," remarked vocalist Heather Small. "The cash was the bonus but we didn't require the bonus, because we had the main prize. So our victory affected the lives of others."

In the past week, the MVT announced it had rescued a couple of grassroots venues in that region, by bringing them into public stewardship.

The first in the city and the second in that location were bought under the public acquisition initiative, which is funded by a national body and music fans who buy "stakes" in the buildings.