Music for Dementia appoints Amy Shackleton as CEO
Music for Dementia has appointed Amy Shackleton as CEO, succeeding Sarah Metcalfe at a pivotal moment in the campaign’s growth and evolution to embed music in dementia care.
Amy joined Music for Dementia in September last year and has made a real impact spearheading the Music Made Easy Taskforce, which focuses on tackling accessibility gaps in music technology for people affected by dementia. She has also led on the relaunch of m4dRADIO, Music for Dementia’s 24-hour, ad-free and talk-free radio service for people living with dementia and their carers.
Prior to joining Music for Dementia, Amy began her career as a corporate lawyer working on M&A and governance, before moving into social impact work at StoriBoard, where she helped develop scalable, community-based responses to loneliness and isolation. She brings a wealth of experience in the fields of strategy, relationship building, governance and driving forward initiatives that are practical and scalable.
Amy’s appointment marks a natural moment to broaden the campaign’s power of music focus to involve children and young people, including intergenerational initiatives, while staying rooted in its core mission of improving life for people living with dementia.
Music for Dementia is a national campaign created, funded and led by The Utley Foundation as one of its flagship programmes. Amy’s new position works across the entirety of The Utley Foundation’s focus areas, which alongside Music for Dementia also includes veterans, children and young people and senescence research.
Over the past decade, Music for Dementia has helped put music firmly on the map in dementia care, with more than £7 million invested in music and dementia projects across the UK, including choirs, playlist initiatives, dementia cafes, carer training, awareness-raising campaigns and its m4dRADIO service.
It has also helped generate a further £3.5 million for grant making through shared investment. Kickstarted with a £1 million contribution from the Utley Foundation and in partnership with the National Academy of Social Prescribing (NASP), the Fund has united partners across health, the arts, and philanthropy to embed music in dementia care nationwide. To date, grants have been awarded to over 200 organisations, supporting more than 12,000 people.
“It’s a huge privilege and responsibility to lead Music for Dementia” says Amy Shackleton. “Seeing how music could bring my grandparents back to themselves, even in advanced dementia, shaped my understanding of its power. The goal now is to make that experience possible for many more families, while using music to build connections across generations and communities.”
“My priority is to make sure the tools we’ve created, including m4dRADIO and our soon-to-launch new resources for care homes, are as useful, accessible and impactful as possible - and that we reach many more of the people they are designed to support.”
Amy’s work will continue within The Utley Foundation’s approach to “campaigning philanthropy – more than cheques”, combining funding with partnership, coalition-building and advocacy to influence practice and systems.
ENDS
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About Music for Dementia: The Music for Dementia campaign is a charitable programme of the Utley Foundation, working to make music an integral part of dementia care. It involves more than 200 organisations from the NHS, care sector, third sector and music sector plus thousands of individual supporters, many with lived experience.
About the Utley Foundation: The Utley Foundation is a private charitable trust established by Neil Utley in 2014. The Utley Foundation established the Music for Dementia campaign in 2018 as part of its ambition to ensure music is made an integral part of care for all those living with dementia.