Sam Fender gives twenty-five thousand pounds cash award to independent music venues
The star has donated the entirety of his twenty-five thousand pound honor cash to the Music Venues Trust, which operates to protect the UK's small concert spaces.
He was awarded the cheque on mid-October as his third album People Watching was declared the top album of the previous year.
Fender has decided to give the cash to the trust, in appreciation of the essential function local spots played in his initial steps.
"As an artist would not have achieved this success if it hadn't been for all the gigs I performed around the region, and elsewhere, when I was beginning," said the artist. "These venues are renowned, but they are in difficulty."
Since the start of 2023, at least 150 of these spaces have shut down – about 16% of the entire UK sector.
In the last year, well-known musicians including Pulp, Coldplay, Katy Perry and Ed Sheeran have all backed the Music Venues Trust in its initiatives to help venues survive, by applying a small levy to their admission fees, which benefits smaller concert halls.
He also participated, collecting over £100k on his live tour to assist thirty-eight local spots across the UK.
The donation supported locations that were dealing with imminent closure due to difficulties caused by floods, fire incidents and family tragedies, as well as permit problems, legal disputes and neighbor objections.
Some locations obtained financial assistance in improving amenities and sound and lighting systems that positively impacted performers and concertgoers.
"The notion that revenue from concerts in big venues helps the smaller venues, where it all starts for musicians like me, is just common sense," the star has commented.
Fender is far from the only musician to donate his award funds to charitable organizations.
In they won the award in the year 1996 for their release the album, vocalist Jarvis Cocker announced that the act would give their cash to the non-profit War Child.
In 2002, rapper and singer she shared her bounty across a few charities, including the children's charity and a Sickle Cell organization.
"I also donated a grand to Highgate Newtown, to their gymnastics class, because I did gymnastics when I was growing up and they required better apparatus," the artist explained to the media.
In recent years, Ezra Collective contributed their prize money to the community center that developed their band, as well as other local music groups.
Additionally 1994 winners M People gave their prize to a MS organization after a friend was diagnosed the illness.
"Receiving the award was sufficient," said vocalist Heather Small. "The money was the cherry on top but we didn't require the bonus, because we had the honor. So our victory affected another person's life."
In the past week, the trust revealed it had saved several local spots in south-east England, by bringing them into local control.
One venue in the city and the second in the city were bought under the Own Our Venues initiative, which is backed by the arts council and enthusiasts who acquire "stakes" in the venues.