The Mallory Gilbert Leadership Award
Image Description: Text reads: “Professional Association of Canadian Theatres. The Mallory Gilbert Leadership Award is Presented to Hugh Neilson and Protege Celina Hawkins.
On May 26th, the Professional Association of Canadian Theatres presented Hugh Neilson with the annual Mallory Gilbert Leadership Award, which celebrates and recognizes an individual who has demonstrated outstanding administrative or managerial leadership within the Canadian theatre community. The award also includes a protégé, chosen by the Award winner, underlining the importance of skills and knowledge transmission in leadership building. Hugh has named GCTC Company Manager Celina Hawkins as his protégé. Congratulations to Hugh and Celina!
Image Description: A sepia-toned photo of Hugh against a wooden wall. He is standing on the right side and is wearing glasses, staring intently at the camera.
If either Hugh or Celina knew I was writing this, I might be in trouble. For “theatre people,” they are so often spotlight shy. It is a tricky position for me to be in as a marketer, because people keep on praising them publicly and it’s getting hard to hide that.
Well, I’m done hiding! Hugh and Celina are two of the best coworkers I have known in my long life as a career marketing and communications professional. They are the type of people to feel that their work best goes unnoticed, because a true professional never brags or gloats. In fact, I have strategically decided to talk about both of them so that each of them maintains a certain plausible deniability. The world will never know how much they do and how much they care. And they want it that way. I can’t break that trust. But I have to say something, so here’s a nautical metaphor:
These two have quietly led GCTC through its most turbulent years in recent memory, unswervingly steering a ship through these choppy seas all while thinking almost exclusively of the people they manage, the folks who depend on them to keep hold of this spinning wheel.
Hugh has always been there for me as a leader, no matter the context. Same with Celina, except that she’s my co-manager and we play Mario Kart sometimes (she always wins).
They are, like masked heroes, guarding the city as we all sleep, watching the skies for a signal while drinking so much coffee. It’s an honour to finally say it.
-Jared Davidson, Marketing and Communications Manager
Image Description: A headshot of Celina, who is standing against a dark background and is wearing pearl earrings. She has short blonde hair and is smiling widely at the camera.
Last week, amidst a 22/23 season launch, launching the final show of the 21/22 season, acting in a play, getting ready to run a half marathon, budgeting a season, supporting a staff and writing contracts and and and, Hugh Neilson was honoured with the Mallory Gilbert Leadership Award at PACT. He is so good at what he does that he makes it seem easy. He makes it seem easy that he paid down a huge capital debt. He makes it seem easy to find time for artists and staff members looking for advice and ways to deepen their involvement with GCTC. He makes it seem easy that he created 5 coordinator roles over the course of the pandemic, raising up GCTC staff in accordance with their skills, giving them more responsibility and a greater scope of work with better pay. He makes these (and countless more) initiatives seem easy, when in actual fact it is simply that he is extraordinarily kind, thoughtful and skillful. Every day I am struck by how lucky I am to learn how to be an artistic director next to Hugh, who is a generous font of knowledge. And Celina Hawkins, GCTC's exceptional Company Manager, whom Hugh named as his protégé, is early in her career and just as remarkable. I'm so happy to see them recognized.
-Sarah Kitz, Artistic Director