On a Saturday last June at the Evans family ranch in Chase County, the Symphony in the Flint Hills wrapped up its 20-year run. The annual event celebrated the tallgrass prairie through music, art and education, and it honored the state’s history and bond with the land. Local director Matt Crow has created a documentary about the symphony’s history and impact.
Roger Nomer: Matt, how did you first get interested in the Symphony in the Flint Hills?
Matt Crow: When I was in school at Wichita State there was a class called the Flint Hills Media Project. We would go out there and do some stories about the symphony, do some stories about the town and the people. And then at the end of the semester, we'd put together a magazine and then some other multimedia content online as well.
What was your first experience like? Do you remember the location of it, and what it was like to attend?
Yeah, it was just outside of Bazaar, Kansas. If you go out there just past Matfield Green, on the hilltop they've spelled out Bazaar in white rocks. You drive past a cemetery at an old school house, go down a dirt road for at least a mile and that's where the first symphony I went to was in Chase County. So, really the middle of nowhere.
And what year was that?
It was 2016.
And what was that experience like for you as a student to attend this?
It was an incredible learning experience, just to be in the field like that with my peers, professors and fellow students. It really teaches you a lot in the moment, and it's a lot of hard work. It's hot, there's a lot of walking. But it just creates this bonding experience, which was great.
There's a photo of all of us together. We kind of did the hands in like we're a sports team or something. Four of the people in that photo were in my wedding, and I hardly knew them at the time. So there's just a lot of camaraderie.
Then it's just this beautiful event. They try to make it so you're in the middle of nature. They try to make it so you can't view any cities in the distance. You're really just out in the prairie and in the Flint Hills. So it's hard to describe in words, but it's just an incredible Kansas experience.
Tell me about the process of making this documentary, and the students that you got involved?
We had a really great group of students, most of them work for the Sunflower at Wichita State or were Elliott School of Communication students. Then we had one project alumni who has helped me a lot. We kind of threw it together in about a month, in the last couple of weeks before the symphony.
We went out the day before and the day of the final symphony. We spent the day gathering interviews, getting b-roll and covering the symphony itself. After that, I got a hold of the archives from the original Flint Hills Media Project. So I spent significant time going through those. And then we are doing some follow-up interviews.
The symphony has so many elements that celebrate our history. What makes this event unique to Kansas?
I think just the Flint Hills and the Kansas prairie lends itself just to that concept, plus the things that they did around it. They do a cattle drive as the sun sets. They time the start of the symphony with sunset. So it's like collaborating with nature to kind of do this event. People may say Kansas is flat and boring, and it may be flat, but it just feels like the land was just designed to do something like this.
Is there something you discovered during the process of making this documentary that surprised you about the symphony, that you didn't know before?
Absolutely, just kind of the mindset of how it started. It was kind of born out of concern about the land usage in the early 2000’s. At that time, they were talking a lot about expanding the wind towers that we see in some places on the horizon. They were concerned specifically for the land in the Flint Hills, not the idea of wind energy itself, if that makes sense. They didn't want to do this like a negative protest. They wanted to just invite people out there in hopes of understanding why they love that space and maybe fight to protect it alongside them.
Can you talk about why it's important to tell this story and preserve the symphony through your documentary?
I tried to keep the same theme that their original mindset was of not doing something negative. While we do discuss, like some of the land issues from the early 2000’s, this is kind of a positive story. It discusses some topics that are still relevant 20 years later. But I hope that you'll think it's interesting and form some opinions about the Flint Hills, whether you live here or not. If you're from outside the Midwest, I hope you think this is just an interesting story about people going to great lengths to celebrate art, history, music and land usage.
You've studied the symphony a lot, and you've done this documentary about it. You've attended it many times. What do you think the future of the symphony should be? Is this something that should continue in Kansas?
That's a great question. I hope somebody takes up the mantle. You don't have to do something so grand, but I think you could regularly do some events that draw people out into that area. Something like 3% of the original tall grass prairie still exists. It used to stretch from the Canadian border to the middle of Texas, and now almost all of it is in the Flint Hills of Kansas. It really brought people from all over. I think that's important too, not only for the people in the city, but for the people in the rural area to meet people from the city. Maybe we can share some ideals, or some love for the lands, or the arts, or culture, or music.
What are your plans for the documentary and how can people see this?
I'm still working on it, but it's pretty much just me doing all the post production. I'd say maybe two thirds of it is edited, and I just need this last piece for the ending.
As far as the release, I'm in the process of submitting it to film festivals in the area. I obviously can't confirm any of those, but there's a big one in Kansas City I am targeting. I've been a part of the Tallgrass Film Festival before, and would love to be a part of it again. So, I guess be on the lookout for that. We have a Facebook page and an Instagram, “Symphony in the Flint Hills: A Documentary.” I try to keep that updated as well with anything I'm doing.
