🔗 Share this article

The star has handed over the entirety of his £25,000 award prize money to the trust for venues, which works to protect the Britain's independent music venues.

The star was presented with the prize on 16 October as his third album the album was chosen as the outstanding release of the previous year.

The musician has chosen to give the cash to the MVT, in acknowledgment of the vital role small stages had in his initial steps.

"I personally couldn't be pursuing my current career if it hadn't been for all the shows I played around the region, and further afield, when I was starting out," said the artist. "These locations are iconic, but they are facing challenges."

Since the start of 2023, over 150 of these spaces have ceased operations – roughly 16 percent of the total UK scene.

In the last year, well-known musicians like Pulp, the group Coldplay, Katy Perry and Ed Sheeran have all supported the Music Venues Trust in its attempts to help venues survive, by adding a small levy to their ticket costs, which supports smaller concert halls.

Fender also took part, generating in excess of £100,000 on his 2024 arena tour to assist thirty-eight grassroots venues across the UK.

The money helped locations that were dealing with imminent closure due to difficulties stemming from floods, fire incidents and personal losses, as well as licensing issues, court cases and neighbor objections.

Other venues were granted financial assistance in modernizing infrastructure and sound and lighting systems that positively impacted musicians and audiences.

"The idea that money from shows in big venues backs the local stages, where it all starts for artists like me, is just common sense," the star has stated.

He is far from the only musician to give his honor funds to good deeds.

Back when they earned the award in the mid-90s for their record the album, lead singer Jarvis Cocker declared that the group would contribute their prize money to the charity War Child.

During 2002, rapper and singer the artist divided her bounty among multiple good causes, including the NSPCC and a Sickle Cell organization.

"Additionally, I donated a grand to Highgate Newtown, to their gymnastics program, because I trained in gymnastics when I was growing up and they needed better apparatus," Ms Dynamite told the media.

In recent years, the band contributed their funds to the youth organization that nurtured their act, alongside other grassroots music organisations.

Also the 1994 recipients the group gave their winnings to a multiple sclerosis charity after a close contact was diagnosed the condition.

"The victory was ample," remarked vocalist Small. "The cash was the cherry on top but we could do without the extra, because we had the cake. So our winning impacted somebody else's life."

Recently, the trust revealed it had saved a couple of small stages in that region, by bringing them into public stewardship.

One venue in that area and the other in Bristol were bought under the community ownership scheme, which is funded by the arts council and supporters who purchase "shares" in the venues.