Petra Olschowski has been the Minister of Science, Research and Arts for the State of Baden-Württemberg since September 28, 2022.
She chairs the supervisory boards of the Baden-Württemberg Cooperative State University (Duale Hochschule Baden-Württemberg - DHBW), the Baden-Württemberg Film Academy and MFG - Medien- und Filmgesellschaft Baden-Württemberg (Media and Film Society), among others.
Petra Olschowski was born in Stuttgart on June 29, 1965. After completing her Abitur (secondary degree), she initially decided to do an apprenticeship as a retail salesperson in the art trade. In 1986, she completed her studies in art history and German language and literature at the University of Stuttgart, graduating with a Magister Artium. While still a student, she worked as a freelance journalist for various newspapers and magazines, as a freelance editor for the art book publisher Hatje Cantz and the Bundeskunsthalle in Bonn, as a lecturer in costume studies and art history, and as a curator of exhibitions in Germany and abroad. From 1996 to 2002, after a traineeship, she worked as an editor at the Stuttgarter Zeitung, first in the sports department, then in domestic politics, and finally in the arts section. In 2002, she moved to the Kunststiftung (Art Foundation) Baden-Württemberg GmbH as managing director, where she developed cross-disciplinary funding programs. Beginning in 2010, she became the first female rector of the State Academy of Fine Arts in Stuttgart.
She served for several years as an expert member of the Cultural Committee of the Stuttgart City Council and held numerous honorary posts before taking state office, including as chairwoman of the Württembergischer Kunstverein (Württemberg Art Association) in Stuttgart, member of the Board of Trustees of the Federal Artists' Social Insurance Fund, on the Baden-Württemberg Art in Construction Commission, and on the Board of Trustees for the Triennale Kleinplastik in Fellbach.
From May 2016 to September 2022 she served as State Secretary in the Ministry of Science, Research and Arts before becoming Minister of Science, Research and Arts at the end of September 2022.
