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Sam Fender has handed over the entirety of his twenty-five thousand pound Mercury Prize cash to the MVT, which works to save the United Kingdom's grassroots concert spaces.

He was given the cheque on mid-October as his third album People Watching was chosen as the outstanding release of the past year.

The musician has opted to hand the money over to the Music Venues Trust, in appreciation of the vital role local spots had in his early career.

"I wouldn't be doing this success if it hadn't been for all the performances I performed around the area, and elsewhere, when I was beginning," stated the artist. "These spaces are legendary, but they are struggling."

From early 2023 onward, at least 150 of these venues have permanently closed – about 16 percent of the whole industry in the UK.

In the last year, major artists like Pulp, Coldplay, Katy Perry and Ed Sheeran have all supported the trust in its attempts to help venues survive, by including a small levy to their admission fees, which goes to help smaller concert halls.

Fender also joined in, generating over £100k on his 2024 arena tour to support numerous grassroots venues across the UK.

The donation helped locations that were facing imminent closure due to challenges caused by flooding, blazes and bereavements, as well as licensing issues, legal disputes and sound issues.

Additional spaces received monetary aid in modernizing amenities and gear that positively impacted artists and concertgoers.

"The concept that funds from performances in major spaces supports the independent spots, where it kicks off for performers like me, is just sensible," the star has commented.

Fender is among several artists to donate his award prize money to good deeds.

When they earned the award in 1996 for their release Different Class, frontman Jarvis Cocker declared that the band would donate their winnings to the charity War Child.

In 2002, musician she shared her bounty between a few organizations, such as the NSPCC and a charity for Sickle Cell.

"I also contributed a thousand pounds to my local community centre, to their gymnastics class, because I did gymnastics when I was a child and they lacked better apparatus," Ms Dynamite explained to the media.

Two years ago, Ezra Collective gave their prize money to the youth organization that supported their band, as well as other independent music bodies.

And the 1994 recipients they donated their winnings to a multiple sclerosis charity after a acquaintance was identified with the condition.

"Receiving the award was ample," remarked artist the singer. "The money was the bonus but we didn't require the cherry, because we had the honor. So our victory touched another person's life."

In the past week, the MVT announced it had saved several grassroots venues in that region, by placing them under local control.

The Joiners in the city and the other in the city were acquired under the community ownership program, which is funded by the arts council and supporters who acquire "ownership units" in the venues.