Alex Mustakas and Drayton Entertainment were recipients of the Most Excellent Innovator award, the top honour at the inaugural Ontario Innovation Excellence (OIE) gala Oct. 29.
The company also received an award in the Strategic Positioning Innovation category, for blazing a trail of self-sufficiency.
The organization was heralded for its development of a groundbreaking sustainable theatre model that receives no government funding for operations, and can be studied as an example to other arts and cultural attractions across Canada.
“This award once again reinforces the tremendous value and contribution the arts make to a healthy, vibrant society,” Mustakas said.
“We are humbled to be singled out by the business community among so many pioneering innovations.”
Other award recipients included Manulife Financial, Mike Lazaridis for his global wireless vision, Integrated Gas Recovery Services for generating 19 megawatts equivalent of energy from landfill gas, the University of Guelph for its Barcode of Life Project, and the Perimeter Institute for Theoretical Physics for its development of an institute devoted to foundational issues in theoretical physics.
Over 120 nominations in six categories were acknowledged at the gala event, which was produced by Exchange Magazine for Business.
The awards partner was RBC and event proceeds were allocated to auto-immune research at the University of Waterloo’s Kitchener Downtown Health Science Campus.
The judges included Dr. Donald Cowan, Terry Dewitte, Miro Forest, Dennis Grimm, and Terry Reidel.
Mustakas said Drayton Entertainment “takes pride in its tradition of offering the finest in theatrical entertainment at historic theatres in unique Ontario communities.”
In its 18-year history, the organization has seen phenomenal growth as the Drayton experience now entertains over 200,000 theatregoers annually at six historic locations – the original Drayton Festival Theatre, the Huron Country Playhouse and Playhouse II in Grand Bend, King’s Wharf Theatre in Penetanguishene, and the Schoolhouse Theatre and St. Jacobs Country Playhouse in St. Jacobs.
Mustakas said Drayton Entertainment has built “an unparalleled reputation for sold-out performances,” tremendous private sector and community support, and creative marketing and fundraising initiatives.
As a professional, not-for-profit theatre company and a registered charitable organization, Drayton Entertainment employs a policy of strict fiscal responsibility and has remained debt-free since its 1991 inception.
