Vivaldi's business plan

In the U.S., everyone thinks St. Martin-in-the-Fields is an orchestra. In the United Kingdom, everyone thinks it’s a homeless shelter. The Academy of St. Martin-in-the-Fields is over 50 years old and St. Martin’s today, with 350 concerts a year, offers the fullest concert program in the U.K. Meanwhile the Connection at St. Martin-in-the-Fields is the busiest homeless day center in the country. Underneath, in the crypt, the church runs a thriving café and shop. The church’s commercial operations have made it a substantial employer and centre of hospitality.

What do these three parts of the church’s life have in common, and how do they embody the congregation’s vision?

When I lived for seven years in North Carolina, I heard a radio show every Sunday morning as I was leaving the house. “Did you know,” a gravelly and inviting voice would say, “that a great many of the classical pieces we love to listen to had religious origins?” As I occasionally heard in the South, “How ’bout that!” Or, as we used to say growing up in the west of England, “Well I never!”