YOU ARE ON NATIVE LAND Celebrating the Abenaki Culture

The New England Youth Theatre sits on the ancestral homelands of Abenaki people (pronounced: ah-BEN-uh-kee), who have lived here in Vermont for over 12,000 years.  The Sokoki tribe, here in Brattleboro, called this area Wantastegok, meaning “At the river where something is lost.” 

We acknowledge that the Abenaki people were forcibly removed from this land by European settlers, who claimed this land for their own.  We also acknowledge that, despite this history of genocide and decimation through European-borne disease, the Abenaki people have continued to live and thrive here in Vermont.  We strive to learn about the challenges that indigenous people have faced, and continue to face.  Further, as a storytelling community we wish to celebrate the stories and cultural contributions, past and present, for which we owe the Abenaki gratitude.