Sam Fender has given the full amount of his £25k Mercury Prize prize money to the trust for venues, which works to protect the UK's small music venues.
The star was presented with the award on mid-October as his third album the album was declared the outstanding release of the last 12 months.
The musician has decided to give the cash to the Music Venues Trust, in appreciation of the crucial part small stages fulfilled in his initial steps.
"I personally would not have achieved this success if it weren't for all the performances I played around the area, and further afield, when I was just getting going," remarked the artist. "These venues are iconic, but they are in difficulty."
Beginning in 2023, at least 150 of these venues have shut down – roughly 16 percent of the whole industry in the UK.
Recently, top acts like the band Pulp, Coldplay, Katy Perry and Sheeran have all backed the trust in its initiatives to keep the scene afloat, by applying a small levy to their admission fees, which supports smaller concert halls.
Sam Fender also took part, raising in excess of £100,000 on his 2024 arena tour to assist thirty-eight local spots across Britain.
The money supported spaces that were dealing with potential shutdown due to issues stemming from water damage, fires and family tragedies, as well as regulatory hurdles, court cases and neighbor objections.
Other venues were granted funding support in improving infrastructure and technical equipment that helped musicians and fans.
"The concept that money from performances in large arenas supports the independent spots, where it kicks off for performers like me, is just common sense," Fender has commented.
Fender is not the first artist to contribute his award prize money to charitable organizations.
When the band received the prize in 1996 for their record their work, vocalist Cocker declared that the act would give their cash to the charity War Child.
During 2002, musician Ms Dynamite split her bounty between several organizations, like the NSPCC and a charity for Sickle Cell.
"I also gave a thousand pounds to my local community centre, to their gymnastics program, because I trained in gymnastics when I was younger and they required better apparatus," Ms Dynamite explained to a publication.
Previously, they gave their prize money to the community center that supported their band, alongside other grassroots music organisations.
Also 1994 winners they contributed their award to a charity for MS after a friend was identified with the disease.
"The victory was quite enough," stated singer the singer. "The money was the bonus but we could do without the cherry, because we had the honor. So our success touched another person's life."
Last week, the trust shared it had protected two local spots in south-east England, by bringing them into community ownership.
The Joiners in that area and The Croft in that location were bought under the community ownership initiative, which is supported by Arts Council England and music fans who acquire "shares" in the buildings.
