Chris Butler
Chris Butler has qualified teacher status and in depth knowledge of teaching in a variety of contexts from primary school to higher education, to Masters Level. She has undergraduate and post graduate degrees and qualifications in Dance and Drama, Expressive Arts, and Arts Management. Prior to her entry into the University of Chichester in 1985 she was a Dance Advisor for West Glamorgan Education Authority, on the board of the Dance Committee of the Welsh Arts Council, and on the executive committee of the Welsh Council of Dance Research, Education and Training.
Her original training was in dance and drama, with more advanced training in contemporary dance, at the London School of Contemporary Dance and the Laban Centre for Dance. She has performed and choreographed in the professional theatre, and has directed a number of youth arts drama and dance productions nationally and internationally
At Chichester University, Chris was the Head of Related Arts and also Performing Arts and from 1997 the Head of the School of Visual and Performing Arts and a member of the senior Management team. This involved the management of 400 staff and 6000 students. She retired from that position in 2008 and taught part time on the Musical Theatre course at the University.
From 1997-2000 Chris was a recipient of a European Arts award for an arts and new technologies project from the European League of the Institute of the Arts (ELIA), and was on the International working party for the ELIA project Employability Skills for Arts Graduates. From 2000-2008 she was the Artistic Director of the ShowRoom Theatre. She has directed a number of International arts project to include ‘Split Screen ’and 'Machines and Migratory Bodies', with Johannes Birringer, both funded by ELIA, and the Arts Council. She has taken an active role on a number of professional organisations and recent board representation has been on South West West Sussex Arts Group, Unity Arts Trust, and Chichester City of Culture Steering Group. In 2009 she was commissioned by the Arts Council to write an Arts Cultural Strategy for the University. In 2011 she was awarded the Observer Business Award as part of the writing team for the Chichester bid for the UK City of Culture in 2013, a scheme run by the government Department of Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS). She has been a school and college governor and a consultant to many arts organisations. Through her consultancy she has raised over 300k from a variety of private and public funding bodies for a range of large scale and community arts projects. She is currently retired, and the Director of Arts Dream Selsey and a Trustee of Selsey Community Forum and on the management team of The Selsey Festival.