We are delighted to announce that our Executive Director Tony Butler has been appointed an Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) in HM the King’s New Year Honours list 2025 for services to the Arts.

Tony is the Executive Director of Derby Museums Trust, a role he has held since 2013. The trust is responsible for three museums – Derby Museum and Art Gallery, the Museum of Making and Pickford’s House. In 2021 the trust opened the Museum of Making at Derby Silk Mill (part of the Derwent Valley Mills UNESCO World Heritage Site) following an £18 million redevelopment. This groundbreaking programme enshrined public participation and harnessed the energy of businesses, the public, the community and the voluntary sector. The Museum was a finalist in the Art Fund Museum of the Year 2022 Awards and received a Special Commendation in the European Museum of the Year Awards 2024.

Working in museums for over 25 years, Tony began his career at the National Postal Museum and identifies as a social history curator at heart. He sits on the UK National Museums Director’s Council executive committee, is a member of the English Civic Museums Network steering group and is a committee member at the Midlands and East arm of the National Lottery Heritage Fund.

He was previously Director of the Museum of East Anglian Life (now the Food Museum) where he led a major capital development project and rebuilt the organisation as the first social enterprise based in a UK museum. In 2010, Tony founded the Happy Museum Project, exploring how museums can respond to the challenges of climate change and work towards a more sustainable future. Since its inception, the project has worked directly with over 50 museums and cultural organisations.

Tony said: “I’m delighted to be awarded an OBE in the New Year Honours list. It’s a brilliant recognition and reminder of the way the work of Derby Museums is admired in our city and the rest of the country. Derby Museums is for the thinker and maker in all of us, and in the years to come we’ll continue to inspire the next generation to see themselves as creative beings”.

The New Year Honours List 2025 recognises the achievements and service of extraordinary people across the UK. View the full list here.

For more information on Derby Museums and the impact it has on the community, please see our 2023-24 Impact Report here.

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Cover image © Janie Airey/Art Fund