Michaela Butter MBE

Member, Board of Trustees

Michaela Butter joined the Primary Board in 2011 and brings with her a wealth of experience that will be invaluable to our new organisation in realising its ambitions. Michaela has been involved in the visual arts for over 30 years and is well known for her commitment and support in promoting emerging talent and in championing the importance of the arts to Nottingham’s future as a dynamic and creative cultural city. Initially working as a curator at Nottingham Castle Museum & Art Gallery she organised a wide range of contemporary and historic exhibitions both locally and internationally before moving into venue management as Service Manager for Nottingham Museum Service, Angel Row and the Yard Gallery and now as co-Director of Embrace Arts in Leicester.

She spent 10 years in the arts funding system as a Board member of East Midlands Arts and the Crafts Council and then as Director of External Relations for Arts Council England supervising an ambitious Capital Development programme across the East Midlands region including Quad, New Art Exchange, Nottingham Contemporary and Broadway Media Centre. She also led on a number of international partnerships to ensure local artists were represented in major projects such as SEAS and the Young Artists European Biennale as well as working on secondment at national level as Director of Arts Strategy overseeing policy development to inform Arts Council’s approach to international, rural and Local Authority working.

A passionate advocate for inter-cultural dialogue she was Vice President for EFAH (Culture Action Europe) a Brussels based platform championing for more resources for the Arts and undertaking programmes of research and discussion in how to foster effective trans-European partnerships. Michaela has been awarded an MBE in the New Year Honours list for her servies to the arts in the East Midlands.