Saving local languages, bringing history to life
Pitney Meadows partners with the Ndakinna Education Center for a night of story and song.
Positively Saratoga
This exciting Positively Saratoga news is brought to you by our friends at the Saratoga County Chamber of Commerce.
Two local organizations are partnering to present an event that brings indigenous language, culture and history to life.
Pitney Meadows Community Farm, in partnership with the Ndakinna Education Center, will host a special evening lecture titled “Art of Remembering: Indigenous Language Reclamation & Regional History” by renowned storyteller, musician, and language scholar Jesse Bruchac from 6 to 7 p.m. on Thursday, Oct. 2 at the farm, located at 223 West Ave. in Saratoga Springs.
The lecture is free and open to the public. Community members of all ages are welcome to attend.
This event offers a rare opportunity to hear directly from one of the leading voices in the revitalization of Algonquian languages. For more than four decades, Bruchac has worked to reclaim and strengthen Indigenous languages, teaching and preserving knowledge that spans generations. His journey has taken him from communities across the Northeast to projects across the U.S. and Canada, and into the world of film and television, where he has served as a language consultant for acclaimed productions such as Turn and Jamestown.
At Pitney Meadows, Bruchac will weave together personal stories, historical insight, and reflections from his lifelong work in education and cultural preservation. His lecture will explore how language is more than a tool of communication—it is a vessel of memory, identity, and resilience. Attendees will come away with a deeper understanding of the ties between Indigenous language reclamation and regional history, and how these connections shape both the past and present.
“Jesse Bruchac’s work reminds us that the land holds memory—that every plant, every word, every song is part of a living history,” Brooke McConnell, executive director of Pitney Meadows Community Farm, said in a press release. “It’s a privilege to partner with the Ndakinna Education Center to bring these offerings to our community, and to learn from Jesse’s knowledge, creativity, and deep-rooted connection to this place.”
Bruchac, a citizen of the Nulhegan Abenaki Nation, is the founder and director of The Abenaki Language School at Middlebury College and the Assistant Director of the Ndakinna Education Center. He has dedicated his life to teaching, sharing, and creating spaces for Indigenous knowledge systems to thrive. His work bridges generations and disciplines, whether through the classroom, the stage, or the screen, bringing both urgency and hope to the effort of cultural reclamation.
"Language reclamation is not just about the past, it is about the future,” Bruchac said in the release. “By revitalizing these words, we ensure that generations to come can inherit not only a language, but the worldview, values, and knowledge that it carries."
 | A guest post by
|