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Sam Fender donates £25,000 award winnings to independent music venues

The artist holding the award in the North East
The musician received the honor in October in his hometown

The star has donated the complete sum of his £25k honor winnings to the MVT, which works to protect the UK's small music venues.

He was awarded the award on 16 October as his new release his work was named the best record of the past year.

The musician has chosen to donate the funds to the trust, in acknowledgment of the essential function local spots fulfilled in his beginning days.

"As an artist couldn't be pursuing my current career if it wasn't for all the gigs I performed around the area, and beyond, when I was starting out," remarked Fender. "These venues are iconic, but they are facing challenges."

Beginning in 2023, at least 150 of these locations have permanently closed – roughly 16% of the whole industry in the UK.

Over the past year, major artists including Pulp, Coldplay, Katy Perry and Sheeran have all supported the trust in its attempts to help venues survive, by adding a small levy to their ticket prices, which supports local stages.

Sam Fender also took part, collecting over £100k on his recent tour to assist 38 local spots across the UK.

These funds assisted venues that were confronting imminent closure due to issues caused by water damage, fire incidents and personal losses, as well as licensing issues, legal disputes and neighbor objections.

Some locations received financial assistance in modernizing amenities and gear that helped performers and fans.

"The idea that money from concerts in major spaces backs the local stages, where it begins for performers like me, is just logical," Fender has stated.

Pulp members in concert
Pulp are one of the many acts who contributed their award prize money to non-profits

Fender is not the first artist to give his award prize money to good deeds.

When the band won the award in the year 1996 for their record the album, lead singer Cocker declared that the act would give their prize money to the non-profit War Child.

In 2002, rapper and singer the artist shared her bounty between multiple good causes, like the NSPCC and a Sickle Cell charity.

"I also gave a thousand pounds to my local community centre, to their gymnastics class, because I did gymnastics when I was growing up and they needed new equipment," Ms Dynamite explained to outlets.

Previously, they gave their prize money to the community center that supported their act, in addition to other grassroots music organisations.

Also 1994 winners they contributed their award to a charity for MS after a friend was diagnosed the condition.

"The victory was sufficient," stated vocalist Heather Small. "The prize was the cherry on top but we didn't require the cherry, because we had the main prize. So our winning affected another person's life."

In the past week, the trust revealed it had protected two local spots in that region, by transferring them to community ownership.

The first in the city and the second in Bristol were bought under the Own Our Venues scheme, which is funded by the arts council and enthusiasts who purchase "shares" in the properties.

LF
The writer

Linda Frederick

A professional poker player and gaming analyst with over a decade of experience in online casinos and strategy development.

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