🔗 Share this article

The star has given the entirety of his £25,000 award cash to the trust for venues, which works to save the United Kingdom's small concert spaces.

He was awarded the cheque on 16 October as his new release his work was chosen as the outstanding release of the past year.

Fender has opted to hand the money over to the trust, in acknowledgment of the vital role local spots fulfilled in his early career.

"As an artist wouldn't be doing this success if it wasn't for all the gigs I performed around the area, and further afield, when I was just getting going," said the artist. "These spaces are renowned, but they are struggling."

Since the start of 2023, more than 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, the singer Katy Perry and Sheeran have all backed the Music Venues Trust in its initiatives to keep the scene afloat, by adding a minor surcharge to their ticket prices, which goes to help local stages.

He also joined in, collecting over £100k on his live tour to assist numerous local spots across Britain.

These funds helped spaces that were facing potential shutdown due to difficulties stemming from floods, fire incidents and bereavements, as well as licensing issues, legal disputes and sound issues.

Some locations received funding support in upgrading facilities and sound and lighting systems that helped performers and audiences.

"The concept that money from performances in major spaces supports the smaller venues, where it begins for artists like me, is just common sense," Sam Fender has said.

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

When Pulp received the prize in the year 1996 for their release the album, vocalist Jarvis Cocker declared that the band would give their prize money to the charity War Child.

That year, rapper and singer Ms Dynamite split her award among multiple organizations, like the NSPCC and a charity for Sickle Cell.

"Additionally, I contributed a £1,000 to my local community centre, to their gymnastics class, because I did gymnastics when I was growing up and they required better apparatus," Ms Dynamite shared with the media.

In recent years, they contributed their prize money to the local youth club that nurtured their group, alongside other local music groups.

And winners that year they contributed their winnings to a multiple sclerosis charity after a friend was found to have the illness.

"The victory was quite enough," remarked artist Heather Small. "The money was the cherry on top but we didn't require the cherry, because we had the honor. So our victory affected somebody else's life."

Recently, the MVT announced it had rescued two small stages in the South East, by placing them under public stewardship.

The Joiners in the city and The Croft in the city were bought under the public acquisition initiative, which is funded by Arts Council England and supporters who purchase "ownership units" in the venues.