🔗 Share this article The artist gives his £25k prize Mercury Prize to independent music venues He was awarded the honor in October in the North East The artist has donated the entirety of his twenty-five thousand pound honor winnings to the MVT, which functions to preserve the UK's independent live music spots. The star was presented with the award on 16 October as his latest record his work was chosen as the best record of the past year. He has opted to give the cash to the trust, in appreciation of the vital role local spots played in his beginning days. "I personally couldn't be pursuing my current career if it wasn't for all the gigs I played around the area, and beyond, when I was beginning," stated the artist. "These venues are renowned, but they are in difficulty." Beginning in 2023, more than 150 of these spaces have shut down – roughly one-sixth of the whole industry in the UK. Over the past year, top acts including the band Pulp, Coldplay, Katy Perry and Ed Sheeran have all backed the Music Venues Trust in its attempts to help venues survive, by including a minor surcharge to their ticket prices, which supports local stages. Sam Fender also took part, collecting in excess of £100,000 on his live tour to help numerous grassroots venues across Britain. The donation helped spaces that were dealing with possible closure due to issues caused by flooding, blazes and bereavements, as well as permit problems, conflicts and neighbor objections. Some locations were granted financial assistance in upgrading facilities and gear that positively impacted artists and audiences. "The idea that money from shows in major spaces backs the local stages, where it kicks off for musicians like me, is just common sense," Fender has said. Pulp are one of the many acts who donated their Mercury Prize prize money to non-profits He is not the first artist to give his award funds to charitable organizations. When they earned the prize in the year 1996 for their release Different Class, vocalist Cocker announced that the act would give their cash to the charity War Child. During 2002, rapper and singer she shared her bounty between multiple charities, including the children's charity and a Sickle Cell organization. "And I contributed a thousand pounds to the center, to their classes, because I trained in gymnastics when I was younger and they required new equipment," the artist explained to outlets. Previously, Ezra Collective donated their prize money to the local youth club that nurtured their group, as well as other independent music bodies. And 1994 winners they gave their prize to a charity for MS after a close contact was found to have the disease. "Receiving the award was sufficient," stated artist the singer. "The prize was the cherry on top but we didn't need the bonus, because we had the cake. So our winning affected another person's life." In the past week, the trust shared it had rescued a couple of grassroots venues in the South East, by bringing them into public stewardship. One venue in Southampton and the other in the city were acquired under the community ownership program, which is funded by the arts council and enthusiasts who purchase "stakes" in the properties.