🔗 Share this article

The star has donated the complete sum of his £25k honor winnings to the Music Venues Trust, which works to save the United Kingdom's independent concert spaces.

Fender was presented with the cheque on mid-October as his latest record People Watching was declared the top album of the last 12 months.

He has chosen to hand the money over to the MVT, in acknowledgment of the essential function small stages played in his beginning days.

"I wouldn't be doing my current career if it hadn't been for all the performances I performed around the North East, and elsewhere, when I was starting out," remarked Sam Fender. "These locations are legendary, but they are in difficulty."

From early 2023 onward, at least 150 of these spaces have ceased operations – roughly 16 percent of the total UK scene.

In the last year, top acts like Pulp, the group Coldplay, Katy Perry and Ed Sheeran have all aided the trust in its initiatives to keep the scene afloat, by including a modest fee to their ticket costs, which benefits independent venues.

Fender also participated, collecting more than £100,000 on his live tour to support numerous grassroots venues across England, Scotland, and Wales.

The money assisted spaces that were dealing with imminent closure due to issues stemming from water damage, fire incidents and family tragedies, as well as regulatory hurdles, conflicts and neighbor objections.

Additional spaces were granted funding support in modernizing facilities and technical equipment that positively impacted artists and audiences.

"The idea that funds from shows in large arenas supports the smaller venues, where it all starts for artists like me, is just common sense," the star has said.

Fender is not the first artist to donate his award funds to good deeds.

Back when the band earned the trophy in 1996 for their album their work, vocalist Cocker declared that the group would give their prize money to the charity War Child.

That year, artist the artist split her bounty between a few good causes, including the children's charity and a charity for Sickle Cell.

"Additionally, I donated a £1,000 to my local community centre, to their classes, because I trained in gymnastics when I was younger and they lacked updated gear," she told outlets.

Previously, Ezra Collective donated their prize money to the local youth club that supported their band, in addition to other independent music bodies.

And the 1994 recipients M People contributed their winnings 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 cherry on top but we could do without the cherry, because we had the main prize. So our victory touched the lives of others."

Recently, the trust shared it had rescued two grassroots venues in the South East, by placing them under local control.

One venue in the city and the other in that location were acquired under the community ownership program, which is supported by a national body and supporters who acquire "ownership units" in the buildings.