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The artist donates £25,000 award winnings to small concert halls

The artist receiving Mercury Prize in the North East
He received the prestigious award in October in his hometown

Sam Fender has given the full amount of his £25,000 honor cash to the trust for venues, which operates to save the Britain's independent concert spaces.

He was given the prize on October 16 as his third album his work was chosen as the outstanding release of the past year.

He has chosen to donate the funds to the MVT, in appreciation of the essential function grassroots venues fulfilled in his initial steps.

"As an artist would not have achieved what I am doing today if it weren't for all the performances I did around the region, and elsewhere, when I was just getting going," stated the artist. "These venues are renowned, but they are in difficulty."

Beginning in 2023, over 150 of these spaces have permanently closed – approximately 16 percent of the entire UK sector.

Recently, major artists such as the band Pulp, the group Coldplay, Katy Perry and Sheeran have all aided the Music Venues Trust in its attempts to help venues survive, by adding a minor surcharge to their admission fees, which supports smaller concert halls.

Sam Fender also took part, raising more than £100,000 on his live tour to help numerous grassroots venues across England, Scotland, and Wales.

The money assisted spaces that were facing imminent closure due to challenges caused by floods, fires and personal losses, as well as regulatory hurdles, court cases and neighbor objections.

Some locations received funding support in upgrading facilities and gear that directly benefitted musicians and audiences.

"The idea that revenue from concerts in major spaces backs the local stages, where it all starts for performers like me, is just sensible," the star has commented.

Pulp members in concert
Pulp are among the artists who donated their honor winnings to non-profits

He is among several artists to donate his award funds to good deeds.

In they earned the trophy in the year 1996 for their record the album, lead singer the singer declared that the band would give their winnings to the organization the charity.

In 2002, musician the artist split her prize among a few good causes, including the NSPCC and a Sickle Cell charity.

"And I donated a grand to the center, to their classes, because I trained in gymnastics when I was a child and they required better apparatus," Ms Dynamite told a publication.

In recent years, they contributed their funds to the community center that supported their band, as well as other grassroots music organisations.

Additionally 1994 winners M People contributed their award to a multiple sclerosis charity after a close contact was found to have the illness.

"Winning was ample," said singer the singer. "The prize was the cherry on top but we didn't need the extra, because we had the cake. So our winning touched another person's life."

Last week, the MVT announced it had saved several small stages in south-east England, by placing them under community ownership.

The first in that area and the other in that location were acquired under the public acquisition scheme, which is backed by the arts council and music fans who acquire "ownership units" in the venues.

The writer

Travis Haas

A tech strategist with over a decade of experience in digital innovation and AI-driven solutions.

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