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The artist has given the entirety of his £25k honor winnings to the Music Venues Trust, which operates to preserve the Britain's independent concert spaces.

The star was awarded the award on 16 October as his latest record People Watching was declared the best record of the last 12 months.

The musician has opted to donate the funds to the Music Venues Trust, in recognition of the essential function grassroots venues fulfilled in his beginning days.

"I personally would not have achieved this success if it weren't for all the gigs I performed around the region, and elsewhere, when I was beginning," remarked Fender. "These spaces are legendary, but they are struggling."

Since the start of 2023, at least 150 of these venues have ceased operations – roughly 16 percent of the total UK scene.

Recently, major artists such as the band Pulp, the group Coldplay, Katy Perry and Ed Sheeran have all supported the MVT in its initiatives to help venues survive, by adding a modest fee to their admission fees, which supports local stages.

Fender also joined in, generating in excess of £100,000 on his recent tour to help thirty-eight local spots across England, Scotland, and Wales.

The donation assisted venues that were confronting imminent closure due to challenges arising from flooding, fire incidents and bereavements, as well as regulatory hurdles, court cases and noise complaints.

Additional spaces were granted financial assistance in improving facilities and technical equipment that helped musicians and concertgoers.

"The idea that funds from performances in large arenas supports the local stages, where it begins for musicians like me, is just sensible," Fender has commented.

He is among several artists to donate his Mercury Prize winnings to charitable organizations.

In Pulp earned the award in 1996 for their release the album, vocalist Jarvis Cocker declared that the group would give their prize money to the charity War Child.

In 2002, artist the artist shared her bounty among several organizations, including the NSPCC and a Sickle Cell charity.

"I also contributed a grand to the center, to their classes, because I did gymnastics when I was growing up and they lacked better apparatus," she shared with outlets.

Previously, the band contributed their prize money to the community center that supported their act, alongside other grassroots music organisations.

Also winners that year they donated their winnings to a MS organization after a friend was diagnosed the condition.

"Receiving the award was sufficient," said singer the singer. "The cash was the cherry on top but we could do without the cherry, because we had the honor. So our winning affected another person's life."

In the past week, the trust revealed it had saved several local spots in that region, by bringing them into local control.

One venue in Southampton and the other in that location were acquired under the Own Our Venues program, which is supported by a national body and supporters who buy "ownership units" in the buildings.