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The artist has given the complete sum of his £25,000 Mercury Prize winnings to the MVT, which works to preserve the Britain's independent concert spaces.

He was given the cheque on 16 October as his latest record his work was declared the best record of the last 12 months.

Fender has decided to give the cash to the Music Venues Trust, in recognition of the vital role local spots fulfilled in his early career.

"I wouldn't be doing this success if it weren't for all the shows I performed around the North East, and further afield, when I was just getting going," said the artist. "These locations are renowned, but they are in difficulty."

Since the start of 2023, over 150 of these spaces have ceased operations – roughly 16% of the entire UK sector.

In the last year, major artists like the band Pulp, the group Coldplay, the singer Katy Perry and Sheeran have all supported the trust in its attempts to support the industry, by including a modest fee to their ticket costs, which supports local stages.

He also took part, collecting more than £100,000 on his recent tour to assist thirty-eight local spots across the UK.

The donation helped spaces that were facing possible closure due to difficulties arising from floods, fires and family tragedies, as well as licensing issues, conflicts and noise complaints.

Some locations received monetary aid in improving amenities and sound and lighting systems that directly benefitted artists and audiences.

"The notion that revenue from shows in big venues helps the local stages, where it begins for artists like me, is just common sense," Sam Fender has said.

Fender is among several artists to donate his Mercury Prize funds to worthy causes.

In they won the prize in the mid-90s for their release their work, frontman Cocker stated that the band would donate their prize money to the charity War Child.

During 2002, rapper and singer she shared her bounty across several organizations, like the NSPCC and a Sickle Cell charity.

"And I contributed a grand to my local community centre, to their classes, because I did gymnastics when I was growing up and they required new equipment," the artist explained to outlets.

In recent years, they contributed their prize money to the community center that supported their group, alongside other independent music bodies.

And winners that year M People gave their prize to a MS organization after a acquaintance was diagnosed the condition.

"Winning was quite enough," stated singer Small. "The cash was the extra but we didn't require the extra, because we had the main prize. So our winning impacted another person's life."

Recently, the Music Venues Trust shared it had saved a couple of grassroots venues in south-east England, by transferring them to public stewardship.

The Joiners in the city and the other in Bristol were purchased under the public acquisition program, which is backed by the arts council and music fans who buy "stakes" in the buildings.