Tony Butler

Background

About Tony Butler

I have a strong record of leadership and achievement in the UK museum sector. Since December 2013 I've been Director of Derby Museums, a independent charitable trust which runs three museums and cares for the city's collections of cultural heritage. In 2021 we opened the award-winning Museum of Making at Derby Silk Mill (part of the Derwent Valley Mills UNESCO World Heritage Site) following an £18m redevelopment. This ground breaking programme enshrined public participation and harnessed the energy of businesses, the public and community and voluntary sector. Derby Museums holds the most extensive collection of work by Joseph Wright of Derby, the painter of Light and artist of the English Enlightenment. I’m a member of the National Museum Directors Council executive committee During 2004-13 I led the Museum of East Anglian Life (MEAL, now the Food Museum) to a £3 million capital development and rebuilt the organisation around the core values of Social Enterprise, Participation, and Environmental Stewardship. I'm a Fellow of the Clore Leadership Programme (2007-08) and a recipient of the Paul Hamlyn Foundation Breakthrough Fund (2009). In 2010 I founded the Happy Museum Project which is seeking to create a community of practice in UK museums committed to supporting transition to a high well-being, sustainable society. Specialties: I am interested in exploring how museums as anchor, civic institution can play a more active role in civil society and how they can make the link between well-being and environmental sustainability