Temple of Art and Music

The TAM is a concept that flourished from grief. Our founder, Sieng Van Tran, spent the 90s and 2000s in tech working with his brother, Tam, who was simultaneously studying internet law. “One of the areas Tam was passionate about was music and creating a fairer record label,” says Sieng. When the company was successfully sold to an investor and the brothers were out celebrating, Tam began feeling ill. Within weeks, his life was upended by a diagnosis of a brain-stem tumour. He was given a prognosis of three months. “I lived in the staff annexe at Guy’s Hospital so I could be with him,” says Sieng, “and while he never wanted to acknowledge or talk about not making it, one night he said that if he didn’t make it, I had to promise him something.” That promise was to launch an arts/music/entertainment venue/concept designed as a complete online and offline ethical ecosystem, encompassing live and recorded music, merchandise, visual art and dining. In its first incarnation, it was launched in 2020 as Theatrery, a mashup of ‘theatre’ and ‘eatery’, finding its ideal home in the sprawling Mercato Metropolitano, in Elephant & Castle, London.