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Wednesday, October 7, 2026
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The artist contributes £25,000 award winnings to grassroots music venues

The artist accepting the award in the North East
He was awarded the honor last month in the North East

The star has handed over the full amount of his twenty-five thousand pound Mercury Prize winnings to the MVT, which works to protect the UK's grassroots music venues.

The star was presented with the award on 16 October as his latest record the album was chosen as the outstanding release of the past year.

He has opted to give the cash to the Music Venues Trust, in recognition of the essential function grassroots venues had in his beginning days.

"I would not have achieved my current career if it weren't for all the performances I performed around the region, and further afield, when I was just getting going," remarked Sam Fender. "These spaces are legendary, but they are struggling."

From early 2023 onward, over 150 of these locations have shut down – roughly one-sixth of the entire UK sector.

Over the past year, top acts such as the band Pulp, Coldplay, Katy Perry and Ed Sheeran have all backed the Music Venues Trust in its initiatives to keep the scene afloat, by applying a minor surcharge to their ticket costs, which benefits local stages.

He also joined in, collecting in excess of £100,000 on his recent tour to help thirty-eight small stages across the UK.

These funds supported locations that were confronting possible closure due to challenges caused by flooding, blazes and bereavements, as well as licensing issues, conflicts and neighbor objections.

Other venues were granted financial assistance in improving facilities and sound and lighting systems that positively impacted performers and fans.

"The notion that money from concerts in big venues helps the independent spots, where it begins for musicians like me, is just common sense," Fender has said.

Pulp members on stage
Pulp are among the artists who donated their honor funds to charity

The musician is among several artists to give his Mercury Prize winnings to charitable organizations.

When the band won the award in the mid-90s for their album the album, frontman Cocker declared that the band would give their prize money to the non-profit War Child.

That year, musician Ms Dynamite divided her bounty across a few good causes, including the NSPCC and a Sickle Cell charity.

"I also donated a thousand pounds to my local community centre, to their gymnastics class, because I trained in gymnastics when I was growing up and they needed new equipment," Ms Dynamite explained to a publication.

In recent years, Ezra Collective gave their funds to the community center that developed their act, alongside other local music groups.

Additionally winners that year they contributed their winnings to a multiple sclerosis charity after a friend was diagnosed the disease.

"Receiving the award was ample," remarked singer the singer. "The prize was the extra but we could do without the extra, because we had the honor. So our success impacted somebody else's life."

Last week, the MVT revealed it had rescued two grassroots venues in that region, by transferring them to public stewardship.

The Joiners in that area and the second in the city were bought under the Own Our Venues initiative, which is backed by a national body and supporters who purchase "ownership units" in the venues.

Written by

Brittany Hays

A seasoned gaming analyst with over a decade of experience in online casinos and slot machine strategies.

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