Vermont Abenaki Artists Association
Honoring Abenaki history, culture, and art since 2013.
Is Vermont being lobbied for Nuremberg Laws?
Race-based attacks and harmful stereotypes are putting Vermont’s Abenaki communities in jeopardy, and it needs to stop. This week is Abenaki Recognition and Heritage Week, yet international special-interest groups are threatening state-recognized Abenaki tribes with cultural erasure in an effort to position themselves for recognition and rights within the United States.
Race-based attacks and harmful stereotypes are putting Vermont’s Abenaki communities in jeopardy and it needs to stop. This week is Abenaki Recognition and Heritage Week, yet international special-interest groups are threatening state-recognized Abenaki tribes with cultural erasure in an effort to position themselves for recognition and rights within the United States.
Using their Canadian status as recognized First Nations, Odanak and Wôlinak in Quebec are using state and federally-funded universities and media organizations to promote their propaganda — threatening to rewrite 12,000 years of Native heritage in the Abenaki homelands now known as the State of Vermont.
Click here to read the full article in the Brattleboro Reformer
Dear Editor
Race-based attacks and harmful stereotypes are putting Vermont’s Abenaki communities in jeopardy and it needs to stop. This week is Abenaki Recognition and Heritage Week, yet international special-interest groups are threatening state-recognized Abenaki tribes with cultural erasure in an effort to position themselves for recognition and rights within the United States. Click here to read the entire letter to the editor.
SWANTON — For the fifth consecutive year, Gov. Phil Scott has recognized May 1-7 as Abenaki Recognition and Heritage Week.
The State of Vermont recognizes four Western Abenaki tribes: the Elnu Abenaki, the Koasek Traditional Band of the Koas Abenaki Nation, the Nulhegan Band of the Coosuk Abenaki Nation, and the Abenaki Nation of Missisquoi St. Francis-Sokoki Band.
“This week we celebrate andhonor the heritage and culture of the Abenaki people in Vermont,” Scott said in a press release. “Vermont is stronger for the contributions of Indigenous people.” Click here to read the full article.
To read the story published by the New York State Writers Institute about this honor that has been given to Joe Bruchac, please click here.
On Tuesday, January 17, 2023, Joseph Bruchac was honored as the first Poet Laureate of Saratoga Springs at a ceremony that took place at 7 p.m. at Saratoga Springs City Hall, 474 Broadway, Saratoga Springs, NY 12866. The Vermont Abenaki Artists Association is privileged to call Joseph Bruchac one of our own. His titles are many: author, writer, Doctor, poet, Tribal Elder, storyteller. His children’s books (and there are over 120 of them) can be found in most school libraries.
The Abenaki Storytelling Project, a community-based arts and storytelling project that focuses on Native American strength and resiliency, will host a Memory Booth at the Nulhegan Abenaki Gathering in Benson, VT on Saturday August 20, from 10-5. The Storytelling Project
BRATTLEBORO, Vt.
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
For information contact: Francine Poitras Jones
804-943-6197
Abenaki Heritage Weekend June 18-19, 2022 at Lake Champlain Maritime Museum
Are you looking for a special experience to start the summer? On June 18th and 19th, citizens of the New England Abenaki community will gather at Lake Champlain Maritime Museum to celebrate their history and heritage and they are inviting you and your family to join them!
This free event will be open from 11am to 4 pm both Saturday and Sunday. One of the highlights is the Native Arts Marketplace of the Vermont Abenaki Artists Association, where visitors can talk to artists, watch craft demonstrations, and purchase outstanding beadwork, paintings, jewelry, wampum, woodwork, leatherwork, drums, feather boxes, and other items.
June 6, 2022 – We, the four Vermont state recognized Abenaki tribes, stand together in affirmation of our own shared, lived experience here in the Northeast, which is necessarily different from that of our relatives in other places, and which has been acknowledged by the State of Vermont.
The distinct historical and contemporary realities within the southern reaches of Ndakinna, our homelands – under the influence of British and French colonial, Federal, and State governments – have brought us to where we are today. Through common experiences of colonization, marginalization, and displacement, our citizens are now found within what is now called New England and points beyond.
We are appreciative of the public process of change that is underway, to raise awareness, remove imposed divisions, and restore balance in these homelands. We wish to work together for healing and understanding among All of our Relations and all of those who are here now.
We look forward to opportunities for dialogue and collaboration – a responsibility incumbent upon us all – in these increasingly challenging times. Traditional teachings make it clear that we owe this to each other, our children, and to the Earth, our Mother.Signed by the Chiefs of the Four Vermont State Recognized Tribes, on behalf of their Councils and Communities (signatures on file),
Chief Richard Menard, Abenaki Nation of Missisquoi
Co-Chief Shirly Hook, Koasek Traditional Band of the Koas Abenaki Nation
Chief Donald Stevens, Nulhegan Band of the Coosuk Abenaki Nation
Chief Roger Longtoe Sheehan, Elnu Abenaki Tribe
The four state-recognized tribes of Vermont are very active. It is important to note that, though the tribes are recognized in Vermont, our land was not divided by borders. We, the Abenaki, call our homeland N’dakinna.
There are four state-recognized tribes in the state of Vermont. Each tribe is self-governed and operates as a sovereign tribe or band. The citizens of the tribes often gather at various functions to fellowship. A good example is the Abenaki Heritage Weekend, which will be held June 18 – 19 this year. To learn more about each tribe, please visit their website. The links are provided here:
Koasek Traditional Band of the Koas Abenaki Nation
Sylvan Linck ‘24.5 – Middlebury College
FYSE 1570: Native Presence and Performance – 13 May 2021
Due to the length of this narrative, it will be introduced in two parts over a period of two weeks. This is part two.
Therrien also illustrated the book My Bring Up, which was a memoir written by her mother Shirly Hook and published in 2019. Therrien worked closely with her mother in order to create from memory the most accurate portrayals of different aspects of Hook
Sylvan Linck ‘24.5 – Middlebury College
FYSE 1570: Native Presence and Performance – 13 May 2021
Due to the length of this narrative, it will be introduced in two parts over a period of two weeks. This is part one.
Amy Hook Therrien is a local artist who specializes in watercolor painting and is a citizen of the Koasek Traditional Band of the Koas Abenaki Nation. Therrien grew up with her family in Chelsea, Vermont in a house overlooking the valley, and surrounded by nature. She graduated from Randolph Union High School and, with the support and encouragement of her parents, attended the University of Maine in Orono to study art. She considers herself very lucky to have such a supportive relationship with her family. While at the University of Maine in Orono she majored in fine art and specialized in painting and sculpture. Therrien moved back to Vermont after graduation, and is living in Windsor with her husband Alex, along with their bunny and two dogs. When she isn
