Sam Fender contributes £25,000 cash award to small live spaces
The star has donated the complete sum of his twenty-five thousand pound award prize money to the MVT, which functions to save the UK's small live music spots.
The star was awarded the cheque on 16 October as his third album his work was chosen as the best record of the last 12 months.
Fender has opted to give the cash to the MVT, in recognition of the vital role local spots had in his initial steps.
"I wouldn't be doing my current career if it wasn't for all the performances I performed around the area, and elsewhere, when I was starting out," said Sam Fender. "These spaces are renowned, but they are in difficulty."
From early 2023 onward, more than 150 of these spaces have ceased operations – approximately 16 percent of the entire UK sector.
Over the past year, well-known musicians such as Pulp, the group Coldplay, Katy Perry and Ed Sheeran have all aided the MVT in its efforts to support the industry, by adding a small levy to their admission fees, which supports smaller concert halls.
Sam Fender also joined in, generating in excess of £100,000 on his recent tour to assist thirty-eight small stages across the UK.
The money assisted locations that were dealing with potential shutdown due to challenges arising from water damage, fires and bereavements, as well as regulatory hurdles, conflicts and neighbor objections.
Additional spaces obtained monetary aid in improving facilities and technical equipment that helped artists and concertgoers.
"The concept that revenue from concerts in big venues helps the independent spots, where it all starts for musicians like me, is just sensible," Sam Fender has stated.
The musician is not the first artist to donate his Mercury Prize prize money to charitable organizations.
In they received the award in 1996 for their album their work, lead singer the singer declared that the act would contribute their cash to the non-profit War Child.
That year, rapper and singer the artist shared her prize across a few good causes, like the NSPCC and a charity for Sickle Cell.
"I also contributed a grand to the center, to their gymnastics program, because I practiced gymnastics when I was younger and they required updated gear," she shared with outlets.
Previously, Ezra Collective donated their funds to the local youth club that nurtured their act, alongside other grassroots music organisations.
Also winners that year they donated their prize to a MS organization after a close contact was identified with the condition.
"Receiving the award was quite enough," stated vocalist the singer. "The prize was the extra but we could do without the bonus, because we had the honor. So our victory touched the lives of others."
Recently, the trust revealed it had protected several small stages in that region, by bringing them into public stewardship.
The first in Southampton and the second in the city were purchased under the community ownership scheme, which is backed by a national body and supporters who purchase "shares" in the properties.