Sam Fender has given the entirety of his £25,000 award winnings to the trust for venues, which operates to save the Britain's grassroots live music spots.
The star was awarded the cheque on 16 October as his third album his work was named the best record of the last 12 months.
Fender has decided to hand the money over to the MVT, in acknowledgment of the vital role small stages had in his beginning days.
"As an artist couldn't be pursuing my current career if it hadn't been for all the performances I performed around the North East, and elsewhere, when I was starting out," stated the artist. "These venues are iconic, but they are struggling."
Beginning in 2023, more than 150 of these locations have ceased operations – approximately 16% of the entire UK sector.
Recently, top acts like Pulp, Coldplay, the singer Katy Perry and Ed Sheeran have all supported the trust in its initiatives to support the industry, by including a small levy to their admission fees, which benefits smaller concert halls.
Fender also joined in, collecting over £100k on his 2024 arena tour to assist thirty-eight local spots across England, Scotland, and Wales.
These funds helped locations that were dealing with imminent closure due to issues caused by floods, blazes and bereavements, as well as permit problems, legal disputes and neighbor objections.
Some locations were granted funding support in upgrading infrastructure and technical equipment that helped artists and audiences.
"The idea that money from shows in major spaces backs the independent spots, where it begins for musicians like me, is just common sense," the star has stated.
The musician is not the first artist to give his Mercury Prize winnings to charitable organizations.
When they won the award in the mid-90s for their record Different Class, frontman Cocker declared that the group would contribute their prize money to the organization War Child.
During 2002, musician the artist divided her bounty between multiple organizations, like the NSPCC and a Sickle Cell charity.
"And I donated a £1,000 to the center, to their gymnastics program, because I practiced gymnastics when I was growing up and they needed new equipment," Ms Dynamite shared with the media.
Two years ago, they gave their winnings to the local youth club that developed their band, alongside other grassroots music organisations.
And the 1994 recipients they contributed their prize to a charity for MS after a close contact was diagnosed the illness.
"Winning was ample," remarked singer Small. "The money was the cherry on top but we didn't require the cherry, because we had the main prize. So our winning impacted another person's life."
Recently, the Music Venues Trust revealed it had saved several local spots in that region, by placing them under community ownership.
The Joiners in Southampton and the other in the city were bought under the community ownership program, which is backed by the arts council and supporters who buy "ownership units" in the venues.
