Temple of Art and Music joins Everywhere At Once — the UK's biggest grassroots music festival. Dana Gillespie and the next generation, sixty years apart, in one room.
The year pop became art. The year the album beat the single. The year a sixteen-year-old Dana Gillespie was already in the room.
Pet Sounds. Revolver. Blonde on Blonde. Three albums in twelve months changed what music could be. Records weren't filler around the singles — they were transmissions. People gathered around them. They were cultural moments.
John Mayall's Bluesbreakers with Eric Clapton. Cream forms in a kitchen in Neasden. "Clapton is God" appears as graffiti on Islington walls. The lineage of every blues-rock guitarist for the next sixty years starts here.
The Marquee. The 100 Club. The Crawdaddy. The UFO Club opens in December. Rooms of two hundred people that built the next sixty years of British music. The model that still works — if the rooms stay open.
In 1966, a room of two hundred people could change the world. It still can.
A very, very very, very very very excellent songwriter.David Bowie on Dana Gillespie · John Peel Show, 1971
Dana Gillespie opens the transmission between generations. An intimate evening of music, conversation and first performances from Open Music Academy artists.
A collective grassroots record release celebration inspired by the era when records felt like cultural events — and transmissions to the world.
A celebration of Britain's blues tradition inspired by Dana Gillespie & Friends, bringing together emerging artists and special guests in an intergenerational live music gathering.
The festival finale: live premiere of What Makes Me Human by Dana Gillespie and Sieng Van Tran, alongside original responses to the theme written and recorded by Open Music Academy artists.
of grassroots music venues made no profit last year.
grassroots venues closed in the last year alone.
towns and cities across the UK no longer receive touring music.
The model that worked in 1966 still works. The room is the room. The microphone is the microphone. What's at risk is whether there will be a room to walk into. Everywhere At Once is the answer.
Gemma is a 15-year-old Italian-English singer-songwriter and performer based in London, currently training at the Sylvia Young Theatre School. Blending indie pop-rock influences with emotionally driven songwriting, she creates authentic music shaped by personal experiences and life between two cultures. Having already released her first three original songs — with many more written and waiting to be unveiled — she is building a distinctive artistic identity through powerful live performances, emotional connection and a natural stage presence.
14-year-old fast-rising independent young artist — singer-songwriter and guitarist, Albie has already written a catalogue of over 30 original songs. Delivering a rare blend of musical maturity, emotional depth and natural stage presence. Featured in the Dana Gillespie & Friends live series, and experienced in stage and film.
A singer-songwriter and pianist who experiences sound as colour, shape and emotion. After a one-to-one session with Dana Gillespie, Iris wrote a new song inspired by their conversation.
Grassroots venues are where journeys begin. They are places where people find confidence, creativity and connection. This project is about transmission — passing encouragement, experience and belief from one generation to the next.
Myco Doan-Tran Volunteer Chief Education OfficerMusic has given me so much joy throughout my life. Working with young artists and helping them discover their own voice feels like the natural continuation of that journey.
Dana Gillespie Mentor in ResidenceWritten by Dana Gillespie & Sieng Van Tran
The song sets the question. The young artists of the Open Music Academy spend the weeks ahead answering it — each in their own voice and genre — with original work responding to the same theme of empathy, kindness and connection in an increasingly technological world. The anthem and the responses come together at Convergence.
Temple of Art and Music is a London-based creative venue and platform operating at the intersection of music, performance, storytelling and identity. Based in Elephant & Castle, TAM runs the Open Music Academy — a youth artist development pathway covering songwriting, recording, live performance and mentorship — and hosts an evolving programme of original work, collaboration and intergenerational exchange.
From a sixteen-year-old Dana Gillespie in a Soho club in 1966 to a fifteen-year-old Gemma Schito on a TAM stage in 2026 — sixty years of British music, one supportive room at a time.
1,200+ gigs · 500+ venues · 1 weekend · Closer to the music, where local matters, where everyone belongs.