Support Prairie Visions and help bring Alberta’s musical heritage to the screen.
The Lethbridge Symphony Orchestra is creating a new feature documentary called Prairie Visions—a film that will celebrate the Symphony’s 65-year history and explore how classical music has shaped the cultural identity of Southern Alberta. This landmark project will bring together oral history interviews, rare archival materials, and new performances, including the revival of Dean Blair’s Lethbridge Concerto and a newly commissioned piece by Blackfoot composer Sonny-Ray Day Rider.
The film is being directed by Dr. Jenna Bailey, an award-winning historian, filmmaker, and best-selling author whose work focuses on bringing community stories to life through film and oral history. Her most recent documentary, Brainstorm—which tells the story of University of Lethbridge neuroscientists whose research transformed our understanding of the brain—won the 2025 Alberta Film and Television Rosie Award for Best Educational Production and is available on TELUS Optik Tv, Roku (USA), Amazon Prime (UK + USA). Dr. Bailey has also been the lead historian on two Alberta projects that received the Governor General’s History Award for Excellence in Community Programming (2015 and 2018). Learn more about her work at www.baileyandsoda.com and www.jenna-bailey.com.
The total budget for Prairie Visions is $150,000. We have already raised $50,000, and we are anticipating another $35,000 through pending grant applications. To make this film a reality, we are now turning to our community to raise the final $65,000 in honour of the Symphony’s 65th anniversary. These funds will directly support key elements of production, including filming the orchestra’s rehearsals and performance of the Lethbridge Concerto, commissioning and recording a new work by Blackfoot composer Sonny-Ray Day Rider for Musaeus (the LSO’s professional string quartet), and covering the costs of editing, post-production, music licensing, and film promotion.
You can support the project in two ways:
Make a charitable donation – Donations can be made by e-transfer to executive@lethbridgesymphony.org. All donations are eligible for a charitable tax receipt, and contributions over $500 may be acknowledged in the film credits if desired.
Become a sponsor – Sponsorship opportunities are available for both the film and the premiere event, with tiered public recognition such as name or logo in the film credits, media wall presence at the event, and inclusion in press materials.
The premiere of Prairie Visions will take place in 2027 and will be an immersive live experience, featuring the Lethbridge Symphony Orchestra performing music live during the screening of the film, in the style of early cinema.
For more information or questions about donating or sponsorships, please contact executive@lethbridgesymphony.org. Your support will help preserve and share this important part of Alberta’s cultural history and ensure Prairie Visions is brought to the screen for all to experience.