Sam Fender has handed over the entirety of his £25,000 honor prize money to the MVT, which functions to preserve the Britain's independent concert spaces.
Fender was awarded the cheque on October 16 as his new release People Watching was named the best record of the previous year.
He has opted to donate the funds to the trust, in acknowledgment of the essential function small stages had in his beginning days.
"I personally wouldn't be doing my current career if it wasn't for all the gigs I played around the North East, and elsewhere, when I was just getting going," remarked the artist. "These venues are legendary, but they are facing challenges."
From early 2023 onward, more than 150 of these locations have ceased operations – about one-sixth of the entire UK sector.
Recently, major artists including the band Pulp, the group Coldplay, Katy Perry and Ed Sheeran have all supported the trust in its attempts to help venues survive, by applying a small levy to their ticket costs, which benefits independent venues.
Sam Fender also joined in, raising over £100k on his live tour to help numerous local spots across England, Scotland, and Wales.
These funds assisted venues that were confronting possible closure due to difficulties arising from flooding, blazes and personal losses, as well as regulatory hurdles, legal disputes and neighbor objections.
Additional spaces were granted monetary aid in modernizing infrastructure and gear that directly benefitted performers and concertgoers.
"The notion that revenue from concerts in major spaces supports the local stages, where it all starts for artists like me, is just logical," Sam Fender has said.
He is among several artists to contribute his award funds to charitable organizations.
In the band earned the prize in the year 1996 for their release their work, lead singer the singer stated that the act would give their winnings to the organization War Child.
In 2002, rapper and singer she divided her award across a few organizations, including the children's charity and a Sickle Cell charity.
"I also contributed a £1,000 to Highgate Newtown, to their gymnastics class, because I practiced gymnastics when I was younger and they required new equipment," the artist explained to the media.
Two years ago, Ezra Collective contributed their funds to the youth organization that developed their band, in addition to other independent music bodies.
Additionally the 1994 recipients the group contributed their winnings to a charity for MS after a close contact was diagnosed the disease.
"The victory was sufficient," said vocalist Small. "The prize was the cherry on top but we didn't need the bonus, because we had the main prize. So our winning touched somebody else's life."
Last week, the MVT shared it had rescued two grassroots venues in the South East, by placing them under public stewardship.
The Joiners in that area and The Croft in the city were acquired under the community ownership initiative, which is backed by the arts council and music fans who purchase "ownership units" in the properties.
