Sam Fender has given the entirety of his £25k award cash to the Music Venues Trust, which works to protect the United Kingdom's independent concert spaces.
Fender was given the cheque on 16 October as his third album People Watching was named the top album of the last 12 months.
The musician has decided to hand the money over to the Music Venues Trust, in appreciation of the essential function small stages had in his initial steps.
"I personally would not have achieved what I am doing today if it hadn't been for all the performances I performed around the region, and elsewhere, when I was starting out," said Fender. "These spaces are iconic, but they are facing challenges."
Since the start of 2023, over 150 of these venues have permanently closed – about 16% of the total UK scene.
Recently, major artists such as Pulp, the group Coldplay, Katy Perry and Ed Sheeran have all supported the MVT in its attempts to support the industry, by including a modest fee to their ticket prices, which supports local stages.
Sam Fender also took part, collecting more than £100,000 on his recent tour to support numerous local spots across the UK.
These funds helped spaces that were dealing with potential shutdown due to issues caused by flooding, fires and bereavements, as well as regulatory hurdles, legal disputes and noise complaints.
Some locations received financial assistance in upgrading infrastructure and technical equipment that helped musicians and concertgoers.
"The concept that revenue from performances in major spaces supports the independent spots, where it kicks off for artists like me, is just logical," the star has stated.
The musician is among several artists to donate his Mercury Prize prize money to good deeds.
Back when they earned the award in the year 1996 for their record their work, vocalist the singer announced that the band would contribute their cash to the charity War Child.
That year, artist Ms Dynamite divided her bounty among multiple organizations, like the children's charity and a charity for Sickle Cell.
"Additionally, I gave a £1,000 to my local community centre, to their classes, because I trained in gymnastics when I was younger and they lacked better apparatus," Ms Dynamite explained to outlets.
In recent years, they donated their prize money to the youth organization that supported their band, in addition to other grassroots music organisations.
And 1994 winners they gave their prize to a charity for MS after a friend was found to have the disease.
"Winning was quite enough," stated singer the singer. "The money was the bonus but we didn't require the cherry, because we had the honor. So our victory touched another person's life."
Recently, the Music Venues Trust revealed it had protected several small stages in south-east England, by transferring them to public stewardship.
One venue in that area and the second in the city were purchased under the Own Our Venues initiative, which is funded by the arts council and music fans who purchase "stakes" in the properties.
