Vera Starbard
Playwright
Vera Starbard was born in Craig, Alaska with an Alaska Native heritage (Tlingit and Dena’ina Athabascan). She began editing newspapers in 2000, and has made writing and editing part of her work since, including recent years in the field of public relations. She was editor of the Anchorage Native News for six years, and was a contributor to the University of Alaska Anchorage's Book of the Year, Alaska's Native People: A Call to Understanding. Vera completed a historical fiction book in 2010 with an Individual Artist Award from the Rasmuson Foundation, and has received numerous awards for writing and editing from the Public Relations Society of America, Alaska Professional Communicator's Society, Alaska Press Club, and the Alaska Federation of Natives. Vera is currently the Editor of First Alaskans Magazine, and owner of Writing Raven Communications. She, along with her husband Joe Bedard and three playwrights from the Alaska Native Playwright Project, founded an Alaska Native theatre company called Dark Winter Productions in 2013. She is also a founding member of the Alaska Native Media Group.
We found an organizing principle in the "commons" -- a social structure that invites open participation around shared values.