New Faces at the Cartoon Museum – comic creator Hannah Berry announced as Trustee

By John Freeman on April 14, 2021

London’-based The Cartoon Museum has announced that Hannah Berry , who has just ended her tenure as Comics Laureate, has been appointed as a Trustee of the museum, and Holly Burrows has been appointed as the Commercial Manager,

The appointments come shortly after the museum was awarded £96,000 by Arts Council England, on the back of a successful survival fundraising campaign during 2020 where Friends, visitors, and members of the cartooning and comic communities rallied to support the museum through an incredibly difficult year.

“Over the past five years, The Cartoon Museum has been building its collections of comics and graphic novel art,” notes Oliver Preston, Chair of Trustees of The Cartoon Museum “and has held ground-breaking exhibitions on Comic Creators, Futureshock 2000AD, and Inking Women. Hannah Berry, the award winning graphic novelist will bring considerable expertise in the field to the board of trustees.

“We are also delighted to be joined by Holly Burrows who will oversee the retail and merchandising offer for this successful – independent – London museum. Exciting times as the museum prepares to reopen in May.”

“I am very excited to welcome Hannah to the Board of Trustees,” added Joe Sullivan, Director of The Cartoon Museum. “Her expertise on comics, and her time as Comics Laureate, will be invaluable to the museum as we continue to collect and display the best of British comic art.

“Hannah has spent many years working hard to develop the skills of the comic artist community and to promote comics as an essential tool for developing literacy in children, and we hope to continue championing this work as we move forward.

“I’m also delighted to welcome Holly to the team as our new Commercial Manager, and her fantastic track record of working closely and collaboratively with artists will help bring our visitors closer than ever to the wonderful community of British cartoonists and comic artists. The role of Commercial Manager is a brand-new one for the museum, and an essential role for us as we move forward to becoming a self-sustaining organisation.”

Hannah Berry is a comics creator, cartoonist, writer, campaigner and author of three highly acclaimed and occasionally award-winning graphic novels published by Jonathan Cape: Livestock, Adamtine and Britten & Brülightly. She has contributed to numerous publications worldwide as well as regular cartoons for New Statesman and Prospect Magazine, is a fellow of the Royal Society of Literature and was UK Comics Laureate 2019-21. She’s also been instrumental in establishing the new Comic Creators Network, a specialist group set up by the Society of Authors.

“As well as being a damn fine establishment, The Cartoon Museum has always felt like an important cornerstone of the buzzing UK comics scene,” says Hannah. “I’m thrilled to have been invited to be a trustee, and this magnificent museum is fundamental in my grand scheme to help comics take over the world. Don’t quote me on that last part of course, that’s just between you and I.”

*Cartoon Museum Commercial Manager Holly Burrows*

Holly Burrows joins the museum from the House of Illustration, where she ran the retail operation creating successful ranges of merchandise for the likes of Quentin Blake and Posy Simmonds. Prior to this, she worked at the Roald Dahl Museum, V&A and London Zoo across public programming, Front of House and interpretation. She has experience working as an illustrator and puppet maker and is passionate about improving equality of access to the arts.

“I am thrilled to be joining the team at The Cartoon Museum,” says Holly, “as with both a personal and professional background in the graphic arts it’s a perfect fit for my interests and experience and I’m excited to bring my knowledge to such a fantastic and growing organisation.”

• For the latest news and details of happenings both physical and virtual at The Cartoon Museum visit cartoonmuseum.org

John Freeman

The founder of downthetubes, which he established in 1998. John works as a comics and magazine editor, writer, and on promotional work for the Lakes International Comic Art Festival. He is currently editor of Star Trek Explorer, published by Titan – his third tour of duty on the title originally titled Star Trek Magazine.

Working in British comics publishing since the 1980s, his credits include editor of titles such as Doctor Who Magazine, Babylon 5 Magazine, and more. He also edited the comics anthology STRIP Magazine and edited several audio comics for ROK Comics. He has also edited several comic collections, including volumes of “Charley’s War” and “Dan Dare”.

He’s the writer of “Pilgrim: Secrets and Lies” for B7 Comics; “Crucible”, a creator-owned project with 2000AD artist Smuzz; and “Death Duty” and “Skow Dogs” with Dave Hailwood.