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The star has given the complete sum of his twenty-five thousand pound award winnings to the trust for venues, which functions to protect the Britain's small music venues.

Fender was given the award on mid-October as his new release People Watching was named the best record of the previous year.

Fender has chosen to donate the funds to the Music Venues Trust, in acknowledgment of the essential function local spots played in his beginning days.

"As an artist would not have achieved this success if it wasn't for all the shows I did around the North East, and further afield, when I was beginning," said the artist. "These spaces are legendary, but they are facing challenges."

Since the start of 2023, more than 150 of these locations have shut down – about 16 percent of the entire UK sector.

In the last year, top acts such as the band Pulp, Coldplay, the singer Katy Perry and Ed Sheeran have all supported the trust in its efforts to support the industry, by adding a modest fee to their ticket costs, which goes to help smaller concert halls.

Fender also took part, generating in excess of £100,000 on his 2024 arena tour to help numerous small stages across England, Scotland, and Wales.

These funds assisted spaces that were confronting possible closure due to challenges stemming from flooding, fire incidents and bereavements, as well as licensing issues, court cases and sound issues.

Other venues obtained financial assistance in upgrading amenities and technical equipment that directly benefitted performers and concertgoers.

"The concept that money from performances in big venues helps the smaller venues, where it begins for performers like me, is just logical," Fender has said.

He is far from the only musician to contribute his Mercury Prize prize money to worthy causes.

In they won the prize in the year 1996 for their album Different Class, lead singer Cocker stated that the band would give their cash to the organization War Child.

That year, rapper and singer Ms Dynamite shared her prize among multiple good causes, including the NSPCC and a Sickle Cell organization.

"I also donated a grand to Highgate Newtown, to their classes, because I did gymnastics when I was younger and they required better apparatus," the artist explained to outlets.

Previously, the band donated their winnings to the local youth club that nurtured their group, as well as other local music groups.

Also winners that year M People gave their award to a MS organization after a friend was diagnosed the disease.

"Winning was ample," said artist the singer. "The cash was the bonus but we could do without the bonus, because we had the cake. So our winning impacted somebody else's life."

In the past week, the Music Venues Trust announced it had rescued a couple of local spots in that region, by transferring them to local control.

The first in the city and the other in that location were purchased under the public acquisition initiative, which is backed by Arts Council England and music fans who purchase "ownership units" in the buildings.