It is our honour to recognize amazing businesses and leaders within our community through the Mayor’s Innovation Awards. As we approach the ceremony, we would like to introduce the nominees, as nominated by our business community.
The Creative Collaboration award recognizes two or more companies or organizations that have forged an alliance and reached new heights or achievements that they couldn't have reached alone. Contributions may be across sectors, industries, geographies or verticals.
Together, our Creative Collaboration nominees have created new products, services, operations, or partnerships. The stories that were shared on new and creative inventions, processes and more, reinforce just how powerful of a tool partnership can be for a business. We take great pride in the tight knit business support network we have here in Barrie and these collaborations exemplify just that. We encouraged businesses to reach out to their neighbours, and we’re all, without a doubt, stronger because of it. These nominees are a testament to how a shared vision and collaborative spirit can drive positive change, opening new horizons for businesses and underscoring the transformative power of creative partnerships in our ever-evolving world.
This year’s Creative Collaboration Award is proudly sponsored by Meridian Credit Union. As a Credit Union, Meridian is a cooperative financial institution where their members are their shareholders. They understand that collaboration and working in partnership with their business members and community is important to help their clients achieve financial success in their business and personal lives.
This year’s Creative Collaboration nominees include:
Barrie Arts Alliance
The Barrie Arts Alliance (BAA) was formed in response to a proposed change to the Georgian College Theatre and the need for a larger performing arts centre here in Barrie to continue to support performing arts. The BAA originated with 18 local arts organizations with the purpose of advocating for the arts as a whole, and to stay up to date on each others’ initiatives. The BAA meets on a regular basis to discuss matters that are important to the group, with a focus on performing arts projects. BAA members also interact with each other and inform one another of activities to be able to cross market and learn from each others’ groups – what has worked, what new funds are available, what barriers are being worked on to overcome, and more. This alliance has also allowed local groups to learn about the wider arts community. The BAA continues to attract other groups that might be interested in joining and sharing their experiences to become a stronger voice. Since the creation of the BAA, four additional organizations have been onboarded to the alliance.
Henry Bernick Entrepreneurship Centre and Camphill Communities Ontario
During the pandemic, all individuals with intellectual and developmental disabilities (IDD) supported in group living homes at Camphill Communities Ontario (Camphill) lost their jobs. This was devastating to most as they had spent years in these paid positions and in addition to the lost wages, paid employment provided them with an opportunity to learn new skills, develop social relationships, and meaningfully engage with the community. Several of the individuals who lost their jobs were experts in certain areas after years of honing their craft in supportive environments. Camphill looked to their local entrepreneurship ecosystem for accessible supports to help these individuals start their own businesses, but resources were not available. The Inclusive Entrepreneurship program began from a shared vision between Camphill and the Henry Bernick Entrepreneurship Centre (HBEC) to build accessibility for self-employment opportunities to individuals with IDD. Recognizing the barriers individuals with IDD face with traditional entrepreneurship resources, these organizations collaborated to adapt business tools and create workshops tailored to the group’s unique needs.
Henry Bernick Entrepreneurship Centre and Canadian Intellectual Property Office
The Henry Bernick Entrepreneurship Centre has spearheaded bringing the Canadian Intellectual Property Office (CIPO) to Simcoe County for the past few years. The goal was to deliver intellectual property (IP) services and educate entrepreneurs on how to use IP more effectively by delivering relevant IP workshops and supports to the ecosystem. As of Fall 2024, they've started rolling out the initiative from Barrie to the broader region with more than 10 activations currently scheduled for 2025!
Just Simcoe Inc. began from a strong belief that we as a community, both businesses and consumers, deserve a better option when it comes to how we purchase products. Founder Andrew de Jong was originally an ecommerce business owner and found it frustrating to compete against the retail giants such as Amazon and Walmart. Andrew brainstormed different scenarios to not only build something better, but to ultimately compete with these larger conglomerates. He had heard from people that they would love to support local, but they didn’t know how to support in a way that didn’t affect the level of convenience they had become used to. Over four to five months, Andrew gathered over 100 letters of intent from local businesses to join a local online marketplace with a built-in delivery service, allowing for the next-day shipping to continue being offered on the local level. With approx. $200M each year being extracted from our local economy through Amazon, Andrew believes it’s time we stop the bleed, come together, and showcase our collective power through community and collaboration.
Making Change and MacLaren Art Centre
An inspiring partnership developed between Making Change and the MacLaren Art Centre when they created the program "Canvas For Change," A Black Youth Art Showcase. Working together, these organizations wanted to make a space for Black youth artists from Barrie and the surrounding communities to find their voice through visual arts. Making Change were awarded a $10,000 grant from Alectra Utilities to facilitate this program. Over a four-month journey, ten registered youth participated in three workshops led by Black artist mentor Ashante Blackwood. These workshops were held at Shak's World and the MacLaren Art Centre. These incredible students created original art that showed their lived experience and provided anti-Black racism awareness and messaging about who they are as youth facing many challenges. On February 16, the MacLaren Art Centre hosted the “Canvas For Change” exhibit as part of their winter opening gala, with a massive attendance from the community to see their art. The diversity of attendees was extremely notable as well. The youth art showcase's impact was immeasurable for the artists and the community there that night. The youth were involved in TV interviews, received awards and had a chance to talk to the public about the meaning behind their works of art. Both organizations will partner again on this project to be held in February 2025.
Moment Blends Tea Co. found new life when Alison and Jessica, two Barrie business owners outside of this company, acquired the brand in 2023, allowing them to focus on their shared passions for wellness and sustainability. Their journey began after Alison attended Jessica’s yoga class, where a tea blend aligned with her wellness needs. This sparked the idea to enhance Moment Blends’ mission. With Jessica’s background in yoga and wellness and Alison’s experience in sustainable products, they envisioned a brand that offered more than just tea — it became a wellness ritual encouraging mindfulness and balance.
reIGNITE Conference (reIGNITE Conference Inc., Sandbox Centre and The LOOK Company)
reIGNITE came into existence from here in the City of Barrie in early 2022 as the new world began to emerge from the pandemic. With so much change during the 'great digitization', where we found ourselves leveraging ecommerce channels to meet our basic needs and connectivity to the outside world largely shifting to virtual platforms, reIGNITE was born to serve the early adopters who wanted to get back to in-person networking & community building. The founding team set out to create an experience centered around professional development through learning and sharing during a 3-day retreat that featured keynote speakers and fireside chats. reIGNITE Conference was one of the first out of the gate to create the opportunity for in-person connection post-pandemic. Where other conferences (business or otherwise) were not yet willing or able to serve those who sought out opportunities for professional development and in-person networking, reIGINTE emerged to fill that gap. By designing the experience to be held outdoors in a campground setting over three days, reIGNITE has created the environment for real connection. This would translate to thousands of connections made across the province that wouldn't otherwise have occurred without this right time, right place environment.
StART Making Sense (Adams Hamilton and Sean William Dawson)
Regional artist Sean William Dawson and Barrie business leader Chris Adams have formed a collaboration bridging the gap between business and arts with their monthly speaker series StART Making Sense. They have successfully hosted three pop-up talks in businesses in downtown Barrie, bringing artists and business professionals together to discuss the business of the arts. A community-based panel discussion platform (consisting of locally/nationally recognized leaders in these fields) where business and art can meet, communicate and hopefully grow, together. The first talk was about art collecting and creating a sense of place in your home. The second talk was about art in the public realm, and the third talk was about the music business. Participants had a chance to ask questions of the panel, share their experiences, and ultimately, walked away with a better understanding of the business of the arts and how the arts can support business. The art world tends to be shy and intimidated by the business world. The business industry traditionally perceives the art world as exclusive and unapproachable. Sean and Chris have created a community-based discussion platform that breaks down those barriers.
TARA Talks (Marquee Benefits and Sandbox Centre)
Genevieve Lagace-Gore (President of Marquee Benefits) and Dina Tzirakos-Hawker (Managing Director of Sandbox Centre) joined together to create a women in business conference, TARA Talks, inspired by those famous eighteen-minute discussions. This conference blends empowerment, upskilling, networking, and mental wellness to foster a community of strong, interconnected women in business. TARA Talks addresses a significant gap in the market: providing a holistic, supportive space for women in business that goes beyond traditional networking. Genevieve and Dina wanted to create an event that acknowledged the unique journeys of women at all stages of their careers, from entrepreneurs and new business founders to employees seeking advancement. Their focus was on a blend of storytelling and peer-to-peer learning, making complex topics in business and mental wellness approachable and impactful. It's a celebration of holistic success for every woman in the professional sphere, and has seen exponential growth this year, with the first iteration hosted by the Sandbox Centre and Marquee Benefits, and the second iteration being hosted by Fuel Innovation in Orillia. The third iteration of this conference will be coming around in the first quarter of 2025.
The Arts House was founded by two families, the Levadnias and the Girouxs. Specifically, it was initiated by Mariia Levadnia, a professional, university-trained artist, and Alexandra Giroux, a professional, universal trained musician. As new Canadian citizens who arrived in Canada in 2020, they started teaching in the basement of their homes. Over the two years, both Alexandra and Mariia experienced the challenges of motherhood, often spending evenings driving around the city in search of quality education to provide their children with diverse cultural experiences, which they deemed just as important as sports and traditional schooling. Inspired by their children’s talents, they decided to jointly open a centre where both children and adults could receive high-quality creative experiences surrounded by professional instructors. For several months, they sought out a professional team and a suitable venue. The vision was to create a space where students could gain a multifaceted experience in one arts center, eliminating endless travel around Barrie and its surroundings. Through the combined physical and financial efforts of the Giroux and Levadnia families, The Arts House officially opened its doors on May 18, 2024. Today, The Arts House offers students experiences in visual arts, vocal training, piano, violin, guitar, bass guitar, drums, ukulele, early-childhood education, ballet, hip-hop, theater, and theatrical productions. The Arts House supports professional musicians and artists in Barrie, many of whom lack the opportunity to rent spaces for their concerts or exhibitions due to various reasons.
UPlift Black and Ann Green Yoga
“UPlift with Bliss” is a transformative initiative brought to you by UPlift Black and Bliss2 Embodied Therapy (formerly known as BLiSS Ann Green Yoga). In response to the Black Lives Matter movement of 2020, Ann Martinello and Shelly-Ann Skinner brainstormed ideas to make systemic change for Black and other underrepresented people in Barrie. In response, UPlift with Bliss was born. This collaboration embodies the philosophy of "Love in Action" and "Cosmic Karma," emphasizing the yoga principle of rightful action. Ann and Shelly-Ann recognize the importance of embracing one’s authentic self, especially in environments where you may feel overlooked. The space is a place of safety, is aligned in attuned awareness of the eight-limb path, a construct of living your yoga, where people of all talents can share space and provide incredible skills and intelligence to elevate and nurture all people’s education, health, and growth mindset. At UPlift with Bliss, they are committed to creating inclusive spaces that honor and celebrate all aspects of your identity and are held in a sanctuary of compassion and creativity with their workspace offerings. Their program integrates holistic services that prioritize both mental and physical health, paving the way for participants to achieve their personal goals. As well as flex space for yoga, they support events and showcases of artists, a maker space, a professional recording studio, and an immersion therapy room. This collaboration has born a beautiful scholarship opportunity in education.
YMCA of Simcoe-Muskoka and Georgian College’s Department of Social Innovation
Knowing they needed to innovate in new ways, the YMCA of Simcoe/Muskoka, a regional charitable organization rooted deeply in the community’s landscape, approached the Georgian College Social Innovation Team in 2023 with a unique request. Guided by their current strategic plan’s mission of “Forward, Together,” the YMCA sought to explore how Y remains relevant in a rapidly transforming and highly complex future. The Y wanted to understand how they could gain deeper insights into how equity-deserving groups are experiencing disproportionate barriers in our communities and can the Y (and other organizations like the Y) start to understand how lived experiences can be integrated into and inform the design of our future communities. The collaboration took 10 ten months to design, plan and launch with the official presentation of ‘The Future of Belonging Project’ being made to the YMCA’s Board of Directors on October 23rd, 2023. Over the last year, Georgian and the Y have collaborated to engage diverse equity-deserving community in participatory workshops, have led an analysis of over 22 strategic plans of community, social and public organizations across the region, developed 12 localized trends around the future of belonging in the region, released its year 1 Insights Report and proposed the vision of a first of its kind Community Innovation Network (www.futureofbelonging.ca) to foster a Community Innovation Ecosystem.
Congratulations to all the talented nominees in the Creative Collaboration category of the Mayor's Innovation Awards! Your innovative and collaborative efforts have not only showcased your creativity, but have also contributed significantly to the betterment of our community. The ability to come together, exchange ideas, and bring diverse skills to the table is what sets the winners of this category apart. Your dedication to pushing the boundaries of what's possible and finding new and imaginative solutions to local challenges is truly commendable. This recognition is well-deserved, and it highlights the positive impact that creative collaboration can have on our city. May your achievements inspire others to embrace teamwork and innovation for the collective benefit of our community. Well done, and here's to continued success in your future endeavors!
Stay tuned for the announcement of the winners following the Mayor’s Innovation Awards ceremony on November 28!
Thank you to the sponsors of the 6th Mayor’s Innovation Awards, Adams Hamilton, Ain Whitehead LLP, Meridian Business Banking and Innovative Automation, for recognizing the importance of these local businesses.