🔗 Share this article The musician gives £25,000 cash award to small live spaces The musician was awarded the prestigious award in October in Newcastle The artist has handed over the complete sum of his twenty-five thousand pound honor prize money to the Music Venues Trust, which operates to preserve the UK's small music venues. The star was presented with the cheque on October 16 as his latest record his work was chosen as the outstanding release of the last 12 months. Fender has opted to donate the funds to the MVT, in acknowledgment of the essential function grassroots venues played in his early career. "As an artist wouldn't be doing what I am doing today if it hadn't been for all the gigs I played around the area, and beyond, when I was beginning," said the artist. "These locations are iconic, but they are facing challenges." From early 2023 onward, over 150 of these spaces have permanently closed – about one-sixth of the whole industry in the UK. Recently, major artists including Pulp, the group Coldplay, the singer Katy Perry and Ed Sheeran have all supported the Music Venues Trust in its attempts to keep the scene afloat, by including a minor surcharge to their admission fees, which benefits independent venues. Fender also participated, collecting in excess of £100,000 on his live tour to assist numerous grassroots venues across Britain. These funds assisted locations that were confronting possible closure due to challenges caused by floods, blazes and family tragedies, as well as permit problems, court cases and neighbor objections. Additional spaces were granted monetary aid in modernizing infrastructure and technical equipment that helped musicians and concertgoers. "The concept that revenue from concerts in big venues backs the smaller venues, where it kicks off for performers like me, is just sensible," Sam Fender has stated. The group are among the artists who contributed their award winnings to good causes Fender is among several artists to donate his award winnings to good deeds. Back when the band won the award in the mid-90s for their release their work, lead singer the singer stated that the group would give their cash to the charity the charity. During 2002, artist the artist divided her award across a few charities, such as the NSPCC and a Sickle Cell organization. "I also donated a thousand pounds to Highgate Newtown, to their classes, because I did gymnastics when I was a child and they needed better apparatus," Ms Dynamite explained to outlets. Previously, the band donated their prize money to the community center that developed their group, in addition to other local music groups. And the 1994 recipients they contributed their award to a charity for MS after a close contact was identified with the illness. "Receiving the award was sufficient," said artist the singer. "The money was the cherry on top but we didn't require the bonus, because we had the cake. So our success impacted the lives of others." In the past week, the MVT revealed it had rescued two small stages in south-east England, by placing them under community ownership. The first in Southampton and the second in that location were bought under the public acquisition scheme, which is supported by the arts council and enthusiasts who buy "stakes" in the buildings.