The artist gives twenty-five thousand pounds Mercury Prize to small live spaces

The artist holding his trophy in the North East
Sam Fender was awarded the Mercury Prize recently in the North East

The star has donated the complete sum of his £25k honor cash to the MVT, which operates to save the UK's small live music spots.

The star was given the prize on mid-October as his third album his work was declared the outstanding release of the last 12 months.

The musician has opted to donate the funds to the trust, in recognition of the vital role local spots played in his early career.

"I wouldn't be doing this success if it weren't for all the gigs I performed around the North East, and beyond, when I was beginning," stated Sam Fender. "These spaces are iconic, but they are in difficulty."

From early 2023 onward, over 150 of these venues have ceased operations – about 16 percent of the entire UK sector.

In the last year, major artists like Pulp, the group Coldplay, Katy Perry and Sheeran have all backed the trust in its initiatives to help venues survive, by adding a modest fee to their admission fees, which benefits local stages.

Sam Fender also took part, raising more than £100,000 on his live tour to assist thirty-eight grassroots venues across the UK.

The money assisted locations that were confronting potential shutdown due to issues stemming from flooding, blazes and personal losses, as well as regulatory hurdles, court cases and noise complaints.

Additional spaces were granted funding support in modernizing facilities and gear that directly benefitted performers and audiences.

"The concept that revenue from concerts in big venues helps the local stages, where it all starts for performers like me, is just sensible," Sam Fender has said.

Pulp performing
Pulp are among the artists who donated their honor prize money to good causes

He is not the first artist to donate his honor funds to charitable organizations.

When they received the award in 1996 for their release the album, lead singer Cocker stated that the group would contribute their prize money to the charity War Child.

That year, musician she split her bounty among multiple organizations, like the NSPCC and a charity for Sickle Cell.

"And I contributed a thousand pounds to the center, to their classes, because I practiced gymnastics when I was growing up and they lacked better apparatus," Ms Dynamite explained to the media.

In recent years, they donated their winnings to the local youth club that developed their act, as well as other independent music bodies.

Additionally the 1994 recipients the group contributed their award to a charity for MS after a close contact was identified with the condition.

"Receiving the award was sufficient," remarked artist the singer. "The money was the extra but we didn't require the bonus, because we had the main prize. So our success touched the lives of others."

In the past week, the trust announced it had protected several local spots in that region, by transferring them to community ownership.

The first in that area and the other in Bristol were purchased under the Own Our Venues scheme, which is funded by the arts council and supporters who purchase "stakes" in the properties.

Brendan Schmidt
Brendan Schmidt

Aurora chaser and travel writer, Eleanor explores the best dark-sky locations across the UK.