Fiddleheads Nominated for the 2023 Small Business BC Business Awards

PRESS RELEASE: Customers Vote for Fiddleheads' Work in Making a Difference

Fiddleheads has been nominated in a province-wide celebration of entrepreneurship hosted by Small Business BC

The category in which Fiddleheads has been nominated is the Business Impact Award, which specifically goes to a business owner making a difference in their community.

Alongside an aptitude in areas like sales, marketing, logistics, finances and operations, this business has taken "positive action to invest in the community and views social responsibility as an integral part of their success."

Building Community

Fiddleheads more than exemplifies these mature qualities and rises above petty competition to build a stronger local and global community through music.

As owner Rhiannon Nachbaur wrote to the awards committee in one of many examples, "I created a new annual music festival with workshops and a fiddle contest... A year later that event evolved into a non-profit society that granted thousands of dollars in scholarships to kids for lessons and college, offered workshops with top artists passing through in collaboration with a much larger society, and built up an impressive instrument bank to help people without instruments learn to play."

Her community-minded and charitable approach is seen in how she has donated and heavily discounted violins to many community programs throughout Canada, the USA and in developing countries. A school in Manning, AB, for instance, relies on Fiddleheads to purchase violins for their "pool" of instruments, showing how Rhiannon's generous reach goes beyond her own city.

Social Responsibility

Rhiannon is passionate about human rights and our environment, as epitomized by her award-winning "Green" Eco Policy and Practices and Inclusivity & Benevolence Policies.

For example, she earnestly acknowledges her shop is on unceded land in the Tk’emlups te Secwepemc [she-KWE-pem] territory and is a safe space for all people to shop, regardless of their race, gender, sexual orientation, beliefs systems, or neurodivergence. Rhiannon herself has disabilities from genetic diseases (EDS, CMT and others) and understands the importance of being heard and respected.

Her fervent committment to sustainability and eco-policies have earned her and Fiddleheads two "Green" Awards in her current and former city's Business Excellence Awards. Rhiannon summed it up nicely, "Fiddleheads keeps junk out of the landfills, helps non-profits, and sees quality violins that will be used for several generations bringing music into our hearts and villages."

Deserving of Recognition

In response to the nomination question Why do you deserve to win this award, Rhiannon said, "I deserve to win the Business Impact Award because I am more than a cheesy rags to riches success story crammed with trendy buzz words." 

"I am a mature artist with an open heart, a deep thinker with a problem-solving mind, and a seer with optimistic eyes for our future," she said. "I dare to question the predictable steps toward success. Success, as many people seem to see it, is about expansion and increased profits over the year previous. But to me success is living a life that is fulfilling, energizing and sustainable."

She continued, "I deserve to win the Business Impact Award because I tell the truth, even if it means losing out on making a huge sale or don't win a prestigious award because I have no plans to crush the competition. Instead I want to make quality tools for the violin trade attainable by far more people."

"I wish to share my knowledge and ideas so other people can seek a similar path and even improve upon it when I am gone. The violin's construction may have stayed the same over 400 years, but I want to change the way we put violins into people's hands moving forward."

"I deserve to win the Business Impact Award because I put my heart and soul into everything I do, be it making a $12 sale or setting a school music program up with $10,000 worth of violins. I am grateful to do all the work I do because makes me of service to people in a meaningful, human way."

Rhiannon says if she is not chosen to win the Business Impact Award she only hopes it goes to a like-minded individual. "We need to support a new, kinder and more sustainable way of doing business," she said.

Learn More & Vote

More of her impressive story, including how she taught herself violin to rise above roots in poverty, to her incredible efforts to make a significant impact in the music world, are shared on her nomination page: www.smallbusinessbc.ca/awards/nominee/2023/fiddleheads-violin-studio

For the event's 20th Anniversary, the organizers are offering a prize of $10,000 for the each category's winner. Top 5 Finalists will be selected based on public vote and written responses judged by internal business experts. Finalists then proceed to pitch their business to a panel of BC business leaders who decide the winner of each award category.

An additional "Premier’s People’s Choice Award" is decided exclusively by a public vote.

The voting closes on March 10 and the Gala Ceremony announcing the winners will be held on June 2.

Rhiannon kindly asks that her clients and people who appreciate her unique approach to running a sustainable and caring business with a charming personal touch to vote for Fiddleheads and share the voting link far and wide: www.smallbusinessbc.ca/awards/nominee/2023/fiddleheads-violin-studio