Skip to content
RapidWrites

The musician donates his £25k prize award winnings to small music venues

The artist holding Mercury Prize in Newcastle
He received the honor recently in Newcastle

The star has handed over the full amount of his twenty-five thousand pound award prize money to the trust for venues, which functions to save the Britain's grassroots music venues.

The star was given the award on mid-October as his latest record his work was declared the outstanding release of the previous year.

The musician has opted to donate the funds to the MVT, in appreciation of the essential function local spots played in his beginning days.

"I would not have achieved this success if it weren't for all the performances I performed around the region, and elsewhere, when I was just getting going," stated the artist. "These locations are iconic, but they are facing challenges."

Beginning in 2023, over 150 of these locations have ceased operations – roughly one-sixth of the entire UK sector.

In the last year, well-known musicians such as Pulp, the group Coldplay, Katy Perry and Ed Sheeran have all supported the Music Venues Trust in its attempts to support the industry, by applying a small levy to their ticket costs, which benefits local stages.

He also participated, collecting more than £100,000 on his live tour to help 38 local spots across Britain.

The donation supported venues that were dealing with imminent closure due to difficulties caused by flooding, blazes and bereavements, as well as regulatory hurdles, legal disputes and noise complaints.

Other venues were granted financial assistance in modernizing infrastructure and gear that positively impacted performers and audiences.

"The concept that revenue from concerts in big venues supports the smaller venues, where it all starts for musicians like me, is just logical," Fender has stated.

Pulp members in concert
Pulp are one of the many acts who contributed their honor funds to non-profits

The musician is among several artists to contribute his Mercury Prize winnings to charitable organizations.

When they received the trophy in 1996 for their release Different Class, frontman the singer stated that the band would donate their winnings to the organization War Child.

In 2002, artist she shared her award among several organizations, like the NSPCC and a charity for Sickle Cell.

"Additionally, I contributed a grand to Highgate Newtown, to their gymnastics class, because I trained in gymnastics when I was younger and they required updated gear," Ms Dynamite shared with the media.

Previously, they contributed their prize money to the local youth club that developed their act, as well as other local music groups.

Additionally the 1994 recipients the group gave their prize to a charity for MS after a friend was diagnosed the disease.

"Winning was sufficient," remarked singer the singer. "The cash was the cherry on top but we could do without the cherry, because we had the main prize. So our victory touched another person's life."

Recently, the trust shared it had protected two small stages in that region, by transferring them to local control.

The first in that area and The Croft in the city were purchased under the community ownership scheme, which is backed by a national body and enthusiasts who buy "shares" in the venues.

The writer

Christopher Salas

A freelance writer and content strategist with over a decade of experience in digital media and creative coaching.

RapidWrites

Type to search articles.