🔗 Share this article

The artist has given the full amount of his £25,000 award cash to the Music Venues Trust, which operates to save the United Kingdom's independent live music spots.

Fender was presented with the award on 16 October as his new release People Watching was chosen as the outstanding release of the past year.

He has chosen to give the cash to the trust, in recognition of the vital role small stages fulfilled in his initial steps.

"I personally couldn't be pursuing what I am doing today if it weren't for all the shows I played around the North East, and further afield, when I was starting out," said the artist. "These spaces are legendary, but they are struggling."

Beginning in 2023, over 150 of these locations have shut down – roughly one-sixth of the whole industry in the UK.

Recently, well-known musicians like Pulp, Coldplay, Katy Perry and Ed Sheeran have all aided the trust in its initiatives to support the industry, by including a minor surcharge to their ticket costs, which goes to help smaller concert halls.

Fender also participated, raising over £100k on his recent tour to help numerous grassroots venues across the UK.

The money assisted locations that were dealing with possible closure due to issues stemming from flooding, fires and bereavements, as well as permit problems, court cases and noise complaints.

Additional spaces were granted funding support in improving amenities and technical equipment that positively impacted musicians and audiences.

"The concept that money from shows in large arenas backs the local stages, where it begins for artists like me, is just sensible," Fender has stated.

Fender is not the first artist to donate his Mercury Prize prize money to worthy causes.

When the band earned the prize in the mid-90s for their album the album, vocalist Cocker announced that the group would give their cash to the organization War Child.

That year, musician Ms Dynamite split her prize between multiple organizations, including the children's charity and a Sickle Cell organization.

"I also donated a £1,000 to my local community centre, to their gymnastics program, because I trained in gymnastics when I was younger and they lacked better apparatus," Ms Dynamite shared with a publication.

Two years ago, they gave their winnings to the local youth club that supported their act, as well as other independent music bodies.

Also the 1994 recipients M People donated their award to a MS organization after a close contact was found to have the condition.

"The victory was sufficient," said artist Heather Small. "The prize was the extra but we didn't need the extra, because we had the cake. So our winning touched somebody else's life."

In the past week, the trust revealed it had saved a couple of local spots in south-east England, by placing them under public stewardship.

The first in the city and The Croft in that location were acquired under the community ownership program, which is supported by a national body and music fans who buy "ownership units" in the properties.