Sam Fender has given the complete sum of his twenty-five thousand pound honor cash to the MVT, which operates to preserve the United Kingdom's grassroots concert spaces.
Fender was given the award on mid-October as his latest record the album was chosen as the best record of the last 12 months.
The musician has chosen to donate the funds to the trust, in appreciation of the crucial part grassroots venues played in his initial steps.
"As an artist would not have achieved this success if it hadn't been for all the shows I performed around the area, and beyond, when I was starting out," remarked Sam Fender. "These spaces are iconic, but they are facing challenges."
Since the start of 2023, more than 150 of these locations have ceased operations – about 16% of the entire UK sector.
Over the past year, top acts like Pulp, Coldplay, Katy Perry and Ed Sheeran have all supported the trust in its attempts to help venues survive, by including a modest fee to their ticket prices, which goes to help independent venues.
Fender also took part, generating over £100k on his live tour to support thirty-eight local spots across England, Scotland, and Wales.
The money supported locations that were facing potential shutdown due to difficulties caused by flooding, fire incidents and family tragedies, as well as regulatory hurdles, conflicts and neighbor objections.
Some locations received funding support in upgrading infrastructure and sound and lighting systems that positively impacted performers and fans.
"The concept that revenue from performances in big venues helps the smaller venues, where it kicks off for musicians like me, is just common sense," Fender has said.
The musician is far from the only musician to donate his award winnings to charitable organizations.
In the band earned the trophy in the year 1996 for their release Different Class, vocalist the singer stated that the band would give their prize money to the charity War Child.
That year, artist the artist shared her prize across a few organizations, including the NSPCC and a Sickle Cell charity.
"Additionally, I contributed a grand to my local community centre, to their gymnastics class, because I trained in gymnastics when I was younger and they needed updated gear," Ms Dynamite explained to outlets.
In recent years, the band contributed their funds to the youth organization that developed their act, in addition to other independent music bodies.
Additionally winners that year M People donated their award to a charity for MS after a friend was identified with the illness.
"Winning was sufficient," said artist the singer. "The prize was the extra but we didn't need the bonus, because we had the main prize. So our winning affected somebody else's life."
In the past week, the Music Venues Trust shared it had protected several local spots in the South East, by transferring them to public stewardship.
The Joiners in that area and the second in that location were bought under the public acquisition scheme, which is funded by the arts council and music fans who acquire "shares" in the properties.
