Sam Fender has donated the complete sum of his £25,000 Mercury Prize prize money to the MVT, which operates to save the United Kingdom's independent concert spaces.
The star was given the award on mid-October as his third album his work was declared the top album of the previous year.
The musician has opted to hand the money over to the MVT, in acknowledgment of the crucial part grassroots venues played in his early career.
"I would not have achieved this success if it weren't for all the gigs I performed around the region, and further afield, when I was beginning," said Sam Fender. "These venues are legendary, but they are in difficulty."
Beginning in 2023, at least 150 of these spaces have permanently closed – approximately one-sixth of the whole industry in the UK.
Over the past year, major artists such as Pulp, Coldplay, the singer Katy Perry and Ed Sheeran have all supported the MVT in its initiatives to keep the scene afloat, by applying a small levy to their ticket costs, which goes to help independent venues.
Fender also participated, generating over £100k on his recent tour to help thirty-eight grassroots venues across England, Scotland, and Wales.
These funds assisted spaces that were confronting potential shutdown due to challenges arising from floods, blazes and bereavements, as well as licensing issues, court cases and sound issues.
Additional spaces received financial assistance in upgrading facilities and technical equipment that positively impacted performers and audiences.
"The concept that funds from shows in big venues backs the independent spots, where it begins for musicians like me, is just sensible," Sam Fender has said.
Fender is far from the only musician to donate his award winnings to worthy causes.
In Pulp earned the trophy in 1996 for their album their work, frontman the singer declared that the act would donate their prize money to the organization War Child.
That year, musician the artist divided her award among multiple charities, such as the children's charity and a charity for Sickle Cell.
"Additionally, I donated a £1,000 to my local community centre, to their gymnastics program, because I did gymnastics when I was a child and they lacked better apparatus," Ms Dynamite explained to the media.
Previously, they contributed their prize money to the community center that supported their band, alongside other independent music bodies.
And winners that year the group donated their prize to a MS organization after a friend was identified with the condition.
"The victory was sufficient," remarked artist Small. "The money was the bonus but we didn't need the bonus, because we had the honor. So our victory impacted another person's life."
In the past week, the Music Venues Trust announced it had rescued several local spots in south-east England, by bringing them into community ownership.
The first in that area and the other in the city were acquired under the public acquisition scheme, which is funded by the arts council and music fans who buy "ownership units" in the properties.
