John Schratwieser serves as director of the Kent County Arts Council, where he has launched ARTikultur-MD, an artist residency program and facility, the first of its kind in Maryland. It will serve as a space for citizen artists to create cross disciplinary works as arts-based solutions for civic and social challenges. Schratwieser is the former director of Maryland Citizens for the Arts (MCA) where, for seven years, he led the state’s efforts to secure strong, consistent public funding for the arts; an effort that, with the help of hundreds of organizations and thousands of advocates, increased state funding for the arts by nearly 50 percent since the depth of the 2008 recession. Schratwieser received a B.A. from Fairfield University and an M.P.A. from The George Washington University.