Sam Fender has handed over the full amount of his £25,000 Mercury Prize winnings to the MVT, which works to save the UK's grassroots live music spots.
The star was awarded the cheque on October 16 as his third album the album was named the outstanding release of the last 12 months.
Fender has chosen to hand the money over to the MVT, in recognition of the essential function local spots played in his early career.
"I personally wouldn't be doing this success if it weren't for all the gigs I performed around the North East, and beyond, when I was beginning," remarked the artist. "These venues are renowned, but they are struggling."
Since the start of 2023, more than 150 of these spaces have ceased operations – about 16% of the total UK scene.
Recently, well-known musicians including the band Pulp, Coldplay, Katy Perry and Ed Sheeran have all aided the MVT in its efforts to help venues survive, by including a small levy to their ticket costs, which benefits independent venues.
Sam Fender also participated, collecting in excess of £100,000 on his recent tour to support thirty-eight grassroots venues across the UK.
These funds assisted venues that were confronting potential shutdown due to issues arising from flooding, blazes and personal losses, as well as regulatory hurdles, conflicts and sound issues.
Additional spaces received monetary aid in upgrading infrastructure and technical equipment that positively impacted artists and audiences.
"The notion that revenue from performances in large arenas supports the smaller venues, where it kicks off for performers like me, is just sensible," the star has stated.
The musician is far from the only musician to donate his award prize money to good deeds.
When Pulp won the trophy in the mid-90s for their release their work, vocalist Cocker declared that the act would contribute their prize money to the charity War Child.
That year, rapper and singer Ms Dynamite split her bounty across multiple charities, such as the children's charity and a Sickle Cell charity.
"I also gave a thousand pounds to the center, to their gymnastics class, because I trained in gymnastics when I was a child and they lacked new equipment," she told the media.
Previously, they contributed their prize money to the local youth club that supported their band, as well as other local music groups.
And winners that year the group gave their award to a multiple sclerosis charity after a acquaintance was found to have the disease.
"The victory was quite enough," said artist Heather Small. "The prize was the cherry on top but we could do without the cherry, because we had the honor. So our success affected somebody else's life."
In the past week, the MVT shared it had protected a couple of small stages in that region, by bringing them into local control.
One venue in the city and the second in Bristol were bought under the Own Our Venues program, which is supported by the arts council and music fans who purchase "shares" in the venues.
