The British singer-songwriter Sam Fender has announced that he will donate his Mercury Prize winnings to Music Venue Trust (MVT), a non-profit advocacy group dedicated to supporting grassroots venues and independent artists across the UK. His prize, worth £25,000 (about $33,000 USD), will be added to his previous £100,000 donation (about $132,000 USD) to the charity, which was raised via his 2024 arena tour, per The Standard.

"I wouldn’t be doing what I am doing today if it wasn’t for all the gigs I played around the North East, and beyond, when I was starting out," Fender said in an official statement. "These venues are legendary, but they are struggling."

Mark Davyd, CEO and founder of MVT, added:

"This is an incredible gesture by Sam, demonstrating once again that artists absolutely understand how vital Grassroots Music Venues are to their careers and to their communities. We are honoured to accept this donation and will ensure every penny of it makes a direct difference to the campaign to keep live music at the heart of our towns and cities."

Fender won the Mercury Prize on October 16, accepting the Album of the Year award for People Watching in his hometown of Newcastle. He competed against eleven other critically acclaimed albums, including Pulp's More, CMAT's Euro-Country, FKA twigs' Eusexua, Fontaines DC's Romance, Wolf Alice's The Clearing.

Revisit out our own Jasper Willems's piece on grassroots venues here.