Tony Butler
Executive Director
Derby Museums
Tony Butler OBE is Executive Director of Derby Museums, which contains theworld’s finest collection of works by the 18th-century artist Joseph Wright of Derby, the preeminent painter of the British Enlightenment. His portfolio also includes theaward-winning Museum of Making at Derby Silk Mill, the site of the world’s first factory and a UNESCO World Heritage Site. The museum’s purpose is to inspire the next generation of makers and creatives through its active workshop and collaborations with some of Britain’s leading companies (Rolls Royce, John Smedley and Vaillant UK).
During 2004-13 he was Director of the Museum of East Anglian Life (now FoodMuseum) in Suffolk. There he developed a pioneering social enterprise focusing on heritage training and social development for vulnerable adults and social prescribing.
In 2011 Tony founded the Happy Museum Project, which has since supported over 50UK museums to develop projects which build mutual relationships with audiences and “steward the future as well as the past”.
He is a Fellow of the Clore Leadership programme, a founder of the English Civic Museums Network and a Member of the UK National Heritage Lottery Fund Midlands and East Committee. Tony was awarded an OBE for services to the Arts in theKing’s New Year Honours List in 2025. Born and bred in Portsmouth, he studied in Wales and East Anglia and now lives in Derbyshire and Suffolk.
