Sam Fender donates £25,000 Mercury Prize winnings to Music Venue Trust
Music Venue Trust (MVT) has announced that Sam Fender has donated his £25,000 Mercury Prize winnings to help support its ongoing work protecting and securing the future of grassroots venues across the country.
Presented with the Mercury Prize, last month in his hometown of Newcastle for his critically acclaimed album People Watching, Fender is donating the prize to MVT in recognition of the vital role grassroots venues played in his early career. “I wouldn’t be doing what I am doing today if it wasn’t for all the gigs I played around the North East, and beyond, when I was starting out,” Fender said. “These venues are legendary, but they are struggling.”
Mark Davyd, CEO and founder of Music Venue Trust, said: “This is an incredible gesture by Sam, demonstrating once again that artists absolutely understand how vital grassroots music venues are to their careers and to their communities. We are honoured to accept this donation and will ensure every penny of it makes a direct difference to the campaign to keep live music at the heart of our towns and cities.”
Sam Fender’s 2024 arena tour raised more than £100,000 that was distributed, by MVT via its Liveline Fund, to support 38 grassroots venues across England, Scotland, and Wales. Speaking at the time, he said: “It’s brilliant to see that the money raised from the arena tour is making a real difference to so many venues. The grassroots circuit has been decimated over the last 10 years or so and the idea that money from shows in big venues supports the smaller venues, where it all starts for musicians like me, is just common sense.”
Sam Fender recently shared details of Live At London Stadium, which captures the recently crowned Mercury Prize winner performing to over 80,000 fans last summer.
For more information, visit musicvenuetrust.com. Live At London Stadium, is set for global release on 15 November.
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