Sam Fender has donated the full amount of his twenty-five thousand pound award winnings to the trust for venues, which operates to save the United Kingdom's small concert spaces.
The star was presented with the award on mid-October as his new release People Watching was chosen as the top album of the past year.
Fender has opted to donate the funds to the Music Venues Trust, in recognition of the essential function grassroots venues played in his early career.
"I would not have achieved my current career if it hadn't been for all the gigs I played around the North East, and beyond, when I was beginning," stated Fender. "These venues are legendary, but they are in difficulty."
From early 2023 onward, over 150 of these locations have ceased operations – roughly 16% of the whole industry in the UK.
In the last year, top acts including Pulp, the group Coldplay, Katy Perry and Ed Sheeran have all aided the Music Venues Trust in its initiatives to keep the scene afloat, by applying a minor surcharge to their ticket costs, which supports local stages.
Sam Fender also participated, generating in excess of £100,000 on his 2024 arena tour to assist 38 small stages across England, Scotland, and Wales.
These funds assisted locations that were facing possible closure due to difficulties arising from water damage, fires and personal losses, as well as regulatory hurdles, conflicts and noise complaints.
Other venues were granted monetary aid in upgrading infrastructure and technical equipment that directly benefitted musicians and audiences.
"The concept that revenue from shows in big venues supports the local stages, where it begins for performers like me, is just logical," Fender has said.
The musician is among several artists to donate his award winnings to good deeds.
When the band received the trophy in the mid-90s for their album Different Class, lead singer Cocker announced that the act would donate their cash to the organization the charity.
During 2002, artist the artist shared her prize between multiple good causes, including the children's charity and a Sickle Cell organization.
"And I gave a thousand pounds to the center, to their classes, because I trained in gymnastics when I was a child and they needed better apparatus," the artist shared with a publication.
Previously, Ezra Collective gave their prize money to the community center that supported their band, in addition to other grassroots music organisations.
Additionally the 1994 recipients the group donated their prize to a MS organization after a acquaintance was identified with the illness.
"Receiving the award was ample," said artist Small. "The cash was the extra but we could do without the cherry, because we had the cake. So our winning impacted somebody else's life."
Recently, the Music Venues Trust shared it had saved two grassroots venues in south-east England, by transferring them to community ownership.
The Joiners in that area and The Croft in Bristol were acquired under the community ownership initiative, which is supported by the arts council and supporters who purchase "ownership units" in the venues.
