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Sam Fender has given the complete sum of his £25k Mercury Prize winnings to the MVT, which operates to save the United Kingdom's independent concert spaces.

He was given the prize on 16 October as his new release People Watching was chosen as the top album of the previous year.

He has opted to give the cash to the Music Venues Trust, in appreciation of the vital role small stages played in his early career.

"As an artist would not have achieved this success if it wasn't for all the gigs I performed around the region, and further afield, when I was just getting going," said Fender. "These spaces are iconic, but they are in difficulty."

From early 2023 onward, more than 150 of these spaces have shut down – about 16% of the whole industry in the UK.

Recently, top acts including the band Pulp, the group Coldplay, the singer Katy Perry and Ed Sheeran have all backed the trust in its initiatives to help venues survive, by including a modest fee to their admission fees, which supports local stages.

He also joined in, generating more than £100,000 on his recent tour to help thirty-eight small stages across England, Scotland, and Wales.

The money assisted spaces that were dealing with possible closure due to issues caused by flooding, blazes and bereavements, as well as regulatory hurdles, conflicts and noise complaints.

Additional spaces received funding support in modernizing amenities and technical equipment that directly benefitted artists and audiences.

"The idea that money from performances in big venues supports the local stages, where it begins for performers like me, is just common sense," Sam Fender has stated.

The musician is among several artists to donate his Mercury Prize funds to charitable organizations.

Back when the band won the award in 1996 for their release the album, vocalist the singer stated that the group would contribute their winnings to the organization War Child.

During 2002, artist Ms Dynamite split her bounty among a few organizations, such as the NSPCC and a Sickle Cell charity.

"Additionally, I gave a thousand pounds to my local community centre, to their gymnastics program, because I trained in gymnastics when I was growing up and they needed better apparatus," the artist shared with outlets.

Previously, the band gave their funds to the community center that supported their group, in addition to other local music groups.

Also the 1994 recipients the group contributed their prize to a MS organization after a close contact was identified with the disease.

"Winning was quite enough," said singer the singer. "The prize was the cherry on top but we didn't need the cherry, because we had the main prize. So our victory touched the lives of others."

Last week, the MVT shared it had protected a couple of grassroots venues in south-east England, by transferring them to local control.

One venue in that area and the second in that location were acquired under the public acquisition program, which is supported by a national body and enthusiasts who acquire "shares" in the venues.