The musician donates £25,000 award winnings to independent live spaces
The artist has handed over the entirety of his twenty-five thousand pound Mercury Prize prize money to the Music Venues Trust, which functions to preserve the Britain's independent concert spaces.
Fender was presented with the cheque on 16 October as his third album People Watching was declared the top album of the previous year.
He has decided to give the cash to the trust, in appreciation of the essential function grassroots venues fulfilled in his beginning days.
"I personally couldn't be pursuing this success if it wasn't for all the gigs I did around the region, and beyond, when I was starting out," remarked Sam Fender. "These venues are legendary, but they are struggling."
Beginning in 2023, more than 150 of these venues have ceased operations – about one-sixth of the entire UK sector.
In the last year, major artists such as Pulp, Coldplay, the singer Katy Perry and Ed Sheeran have all supported the trust in its attempts to keep the scene afloat, by applying a modest fee to their admission fees, which supports smaller concert halls.
Fender also participated, collecting over £100k on his recent tour to assist numerous local spots across Britain.
These funds helped venues that were confronting possible closure due to challenges arising from flooding, blazes and personal losses, as well as regulatory hurdles, conflicts and sound issues.
Additional spaces were granted funding support in improving infrastructure and technical equipment that directly benefitted musicians and concertgoers.
"The idea that funds from concerts in large arenas helps the independent spots, where it begins for musicians like me, is just sensible," Sam Fender has commented.
He is among several artists to donate his award prize money to good deeds.
In Pulp won the trophy in the mid-90s for their release the album, lead singer Cocker stated that the act would contribute their cash to the non-profit War Child.
In 2002, musician she split her prize between multiple good causes, including the children's charity and a Sickle Cell organization.
"Additionally, I donated a thousand pounds to the center, to their gymnastics program, because I trained in gymnastics when I was a child and they required better apparatus," Ms Dynamite shared with the media.
Previously, they gave their funds to the local youth club that nurtured their act, in addition to other grassroots music organisations.
And 1994 winners M People donated their prize to a MS organization after a close contact was diagnosed the illness.
"Winning was sufficient," said singer Small. "The money was the bonus but we didn't require the cherry, because we had the honor. So our success affected somebody else's life."
Last week, the MVT shared it had protected several grassroots venues in south-east England, by bringing them into community ownership.
The Joiners in the city and the other in the city were acquired under the public acquisition program, which is supported by a national body and supporters who acquire "ownership units" in the properties.