John Schratwieser Awarded 2017 Americans for the Arts “Alene Valkanas Award”

Kent County Arts Council’s incoming Director, John Schratwieser had been named the 2017 Americans for the Arts “Alene Valkanas Award” recipient for excellent in State Arts Advocacy for his work at Maryland Citizens for the Arts (MCA) – where under his leadership arts funding in Maryland grew nearly 60% from $13 million a year to almost $21 million.

Americans for the Arts, the nation’s leading nonprofit organization for advancing the arts and arts education in America. These awards recognize the achievements of individuals and organizations committed to enriching their communities through the arts.

Since 2007, the Alene Valkanas State Arts Advocacy Award has honored an individual whose arts advocacy efforts have dramatically affected the political landscape at the state level. 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.