The magazine delivered on all its promises, and The Heard offered it as a benefit of membership for one year. "In one sense we succeeded too well, because we created a high quality magazine, not inexpensive to produce, and it became apparent after a year that one institution wouldn't be enough to carry the project forward," said Avey, the magazine's founding publisher who died in 2005.

Several other publishing groups had attempted to buy the magazine from The Heard, but the museum's board of trustees was adamant that the editorial philosophy not be compromised. Avey and the museum worked out a plan to take the magazine private.

The magazine was capitalized by a small group of investors from several states who believed in the philosophy of Native Peoples. Many of those original investors are still on the board of directors today. In addition, an impressive array of advisors, both Native American and non-Native American, contribute their expertise to the editorial advisory board. These people include museum directors and curators as well as other experts on Native American issues. A few names: Ben Nighthorse Campbell, former U.S. Senator; Ivan Makil, past president of the Salt River Indian Community; and former Secretary of the Interior Stewart Udall.

Native Peoples is affiliated with the Abbe Museum, Bar Harbor, Maine;  Autry Center: Museum of the American West, Los Angeles, CA; Eiteljorg Museum, Indianapolis, IN; Heard Museum, Phoenix, AZ; Institute of American Indian Arts, Santa Fe, NM; Iroquois Indian Museum, Schoharie, NY; Linden Museum, Stuttgart, Germany; Mashantucket Pequot Museum & Research Center, Mashantucket, CT; Montclair Art Museum, Montclair, NJ; Native American Rights Fund, Denver, CO; Sky City Cultural Center, Acoma Pueblo and the Southwest Museum, Los Angeles, CA.

The magazine started with an initial Heard Museum-member circulation of 3,000; since then it has grown to a circulation of about 50,000 copies per issue (and a readership of 155,000 per issue). It is the only Indian-oriented magazine sold coast to coast in the United States on major news stands, including Barnes & Noble, Hastings and Borders, and is considered the periodical voice of record of the American Indian community.

It is now published six times a year and while its focus remains on the arts, culture and lifeways of the Native peoples of the Americas, it also reports on topics related to business, health, education, politics, sports, travel in “Indian Country”, the environment, food, language, history and other subjects associated with Native American life past and present. Since January 2006, Stephen H. Phillips has been the magazine’s publisher.

By Deborah Paddison