Sam Fender has handed over the complete sum of his £25,000 award prize money to the MVT, which works to preserve the Britain's independent live music spots.
He was presented with the prize on 16 October as his latest record his work was named the best record of the last 12 months.
The musician has chosen to give the cash to the MVT, in recognition of the vital role local spots played in his early career.
"I personally couldn't be pursuing this success if it hadn't been for all the gigs I performed around the area, and further afield, when I was starting out," said the artist. "These locations are legendary, but they are struggling."
From early 2023 onward, at least 150 of these spaces have ceased operations – approximately 16 percent of the entire UK sector.
Over the past year, well-known musicians like Pulp, Coldplay, Katy Perry and Ed Sheeran have all supported the Music Venues Trust in its efforts to help venues survive, by including a minor surcharge to their admission fees, which goes to help smaller concert halls.
Sam Fender also joined in, collecting over £100k on his recent tour to help 38 small stages across the UK.
The donation helped venues that were dealing with potential shutdown due to challenges stemming from flooding, fire incidents and personal losses, as well as permit problems, legal disputes and sound issues.
Additional spaces were granted financial assistance in improving facilities and technical equipment that directly benefitted artists and concertgoers.
"The notion that money from shows in big venues backs the local stages, where it all starts for performers like me, is just sensible," Fender has commented.
The musician is not the first artist to donate his honor funds to worthy causes.
In Pulp received the trophy in the year 1996 for their release the album, lead singer the singer declared that the group would donate their cash to the non-profit War Child.
In 2002, artist the artist divided her prize across multiple organizations, like the NSPCC and a charity for Sickle Cell.
"I also donated a thousand pounds to my local community centre, to their gymnastics class, because I did gymnastics when I was younger and they lacked new equipment," she shared with the media.
Two years ago, they contributed their winnings to the community center that nurtured their band, as well as other local music groups.
Additionally 1994 winners M People donated their winnings to a MS organization after a acquaintance was diagnosed the disease.
"Receiving the award was sufficient," said vocalist Small. "The money was the extra but we could do without the extra, because we had the honor. So our winning affected another person's life."
Recently, the trust revealed it had saved a couple of small stages in that region, by placing them under community ownership.
One venue in that area and The Croft in the city were purchased under the Own Our Venues program, which is funded by Arts Council England and supporters who purchase "ownership units" in the properties.
