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The artist has given the entirety of his £25,000 honor winnings to the MVT, which works to protect the Britain's grassroots concert spaces.

The star was awarded the cheque on 16 October as his new release People Watching was chosen as the outstanding release of the last 12 months.

Fender has chosen to hand the money over to the MVT, in appreciation of the vital role small stages played in his beginning days.

"As an artist wouldn't be doing my current career if it wasn't for all the performances I did around the area, and elsewhere, when I was just getting going," remarked Fender. "These venues are legendary, but they are facing challenges."

Since the start of 2023, at least 150 of these locations have shut down – roughly 16 percent of the whole industry in the UK.

Over the past year, well-known musicians including Pulp, the group Coldplay, Katy Perry and Sheeran have all supported the MVT in its efforts to keep the scene afloat, by applying a modest fee to their ticket costs, which benefits smaller concert halls.

He also took part, raising in excess of £100,000 on his live tour to assist numerous local spots across Britain.

The donation supported spaces that were confronting potential shutdown due to challenges caused by floods, fire incidents and bereavements, as well as regulatory hurdles, court cases and neighbor objections.

Additional spaces received monetary aid in improving infrastructure and gear that directly benefitted musicians and fans.

"The notion that revenue from concerts in big venues supports the independent spots, where it all starts for musicians like me, is just common sense," Fender has commented.

The musician is not the first artist to contribute his award funds to good deeds.

In they earned the prize in 1996 for their album the album, frontman the singer declared that the group would contribute their winnings to the organization the charity.

During 2002, musician Ms Dynamite shared her prize across multiple organizations, including the children's charity and a charity for Sickle Cell.

"Additionally, I gave a thousand pounds to Highgate Newtown, to their classes, because I trained in gymnastics when I was a child and they required new equipment," Ms Dynamite told outlets.

In recent years, they gave their prize money to the community center that nurtured their group, alongside other independent music bodies.

Additionally the 1994 recipients they contributed their winnings to a multiple sclerosis charity after a acquaintance was diagnosed the disease.

"The victory was quite enough," stated singer Heather Small. "The prize was the extra but we didn't need the cherry, because we had the cake. So our winning affected another person's life."

In the past week, the trust announced it had saved several small stages in the South East, by bringing them into community ownership.

The Joiners in the city and the second in the city were acquired under the community ownership initiative, which is backed by a national body and music fans who purchase "shares" in the buildings.