Fabienne Morris, head of communication at Intermusica Artists’ Management Ltd, explains why Stephen Lumsden should win the Leader of the Year category of the Guardian Small Business Showcase competition:
Stephen Lumsden founded Intermusica in 1981. In the three decades since, he has taken the business from a one-man-band to a globally renowned classical music agency operating in London, Berlin and Beijing, managing the careers of 120 luminaries and rising stars alike, and facilitating ground-breaking music-making.
Stephen is an intensely thoughtful and inspiring individual whose leadership has earned Intermusica a glowing reputation as a highly personal agency with boundless creative energy.
He provides outstanding support for Intermusica’s artists. Nowhere was this more evident than in a recent video made to celebrate Stephen’s sixtieth birthday, where scores of conductors, soloists and singers submitted their own musical messages of gratitude – there was not a dry eye in the house.
Stephen is equally devoted to his staff. He has an understanding attitude to parents in the office who require flexible working, and is deeply encouraging for staff at all levels to speak at conferences and receiving extra training. Despite being extremely busy with international travel and meetings, Stephen’s door is always open.
Stephen is forever asking the question: ‘what does it mean to support classical music in the 21st century?’ (he was invited on to BBC Newsnight to discuss this very issue). The business is the only agency of its kind to have a four-person marketing team and also has an innovative film and multimedia department dedicated to developing new audiences. The investment in marketing has paid off with Intermusica’s website recently winning a coveted Pixel Award and being nominated in the 2016 Webby Awards.
All entries which meet the competition criteria are published and our judging panel select a shortlist of the top three for each category. Winners are announced at an awards ceremony in summer 2016.
