Tony Butler is the executive director of Derby Museums Trust, an organisation that operates three heritage sites in Derby. This includes Derby Silk Mill, the site of the world’s first factory and a UNESCO World Heritage Site, which underwent a £16.5 million redevelopment to transform it into the Museum of Making in 2022.
The trust also oversees Derby Museum and Art Gallery, which is home to a range of nationally important collections, including the world’s largest collection of work by the 18th Century artist Joseph Wright, and Pickford’s House, a unique museum in the Georgian home of the Enlightenment architect Joseph Pickford.
Speaking to blooloop about the Museum of Making project in 2022, he said:
“The first question we asked about what a new museum could be, wasn’t how could a museum flourish; it was, what does the city need? What does Derby need from a museum that focuses on industry?
“At that time, many of our schools were among the worst-performing schools in the country. There was an aspiration gap in the city. What young people needed were aspirations, and the ability to progress into the roles that, in the past, would have been taken up by family members who would have passed on from one trade to another.
“Making this museum relevant to young people and inspiring that next generation of makers became absolutely central to what the museum was becoming; breaking down those barriers, encouraging young people to become makers, and also responding to the needs of employers.”
Previously, Butler has also led the Museum of East Anglian Life (MEAL) to a £3 million capital development and rebuilt the organisation around the core values of Social Enterprise, Participation, Stewardship and Mindfulness. In 2010, he founded the Happy Museum Project with the aim of creating a community of practice in UK museums committed to supporting the transition to a high well-being, sustainable society.