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Friday, October 16, 2026
Urban Fruit Review

The artist contributes £25,000 Mercury Prize to small live spaces

Sam Fender accepting his trophy in his hometown
The musician received the Mercury Prize recently in the North East

The artist has donated the full amount of his twenty-five thousand pound honor winnings to the Music Venues Trust, which works to save the UK's independent concert spaces.

He was presented with the cheque on 16 October as his third album his work was named the best record of the previous year.

He has chosen to donate the funds to the Music Venues Trust, in appreciation of the essential function grassroots venues fulfilled in his beginning days.

"I couldn't be pursuing what I am doing today if it hadn't been for all the performances I performed around the area, and further afield, when I was just getting going," said the artist. "These venues are iconic, but they are facing challenges."

Beginning in 2023, over 150 of these locations have ceased operations – about 16% of the total UK scene.

Recently, top acts including Pulp, Coldplay, Katy Perry and Ed Sheeran have all supported the MVT in its efforts to support the industry, by including a minor surcharge to their ticket costs, which supports smaller concert halls.

Sam Fender also joined in, raising more than £100,000 on his recent tour to assist thirty-eight small stages across the UK.

The donation assisted locations that were facing potential shutdown due to difficulties arising from water damage, fires and personal losses, as well as regulatory hurdles, conflicts and sound issues.

Some locations were granted funding support in improving facilities and gear that directly benefitted musicians and audiences.

"The idea that revenue from shows in major spaces backs the smaller venues, where it begins for performers like me, is just common sense," the star has stated.

The band Pulp on stage
They are one of the many acts who contributed their Mercury Prize funds to non-profits

Fender is far from the only musician to give his honor winnings to charitable organizations.

When they won the trophy in the year 1996 for their album Different Class, frontman Cocker declared that the act would contribute their prize money to the organization the charity.

In 2002, artist the artist split her bounty across a few good causes, including the NSPCC and a Sickle Cell organization.

"I also contributed a £1,000 to the center, to their classes, because I trained in gymnastics when I was growing up and they needed new equipment," Ms Dynamite explained to a publication.

Previously, they gave their winnings to the youth organization that nurtured their act, as well as other local music groups.

And winners that year the group contributed their award to a multiple sclerosis charity after a close contact was diagnosed the illness.

"The victory was ample," said singer Small. "The cash was the extra but we didn't need the cherry, because we had the main prize. So our victory touched another person's life."

Last week, the MVT shared it had saved several grassroots venues in the South East, by transferring them to local control.

One venue in Southampton and The Croft in that location were bought under the Own Our Venues scheme, which is backed by a national body and supporters who buy "ownership units" in the buildings.

CJ
About the author

Charlene Johnson

Urban gardener and horticulturist with a passion for city fruit cultivation, writing to inspire green-thumbed city dwellers.

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