Black British Theatre Awards co-founder Solange Urdang invested with OBE

On Tuesday 4 May, Solange Urdang, co-founder of the Black British Theatre Awards (BBTA) was invested as an Officer of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire. The investiture, which took place at Windsor Castle and was conducted by Prince William, is in recognition of a career dedicated to uplifting marginalised communities through the creative arts.

Urdang comes from a long line of activists who have used artistic expression to drive societal change. Most notably, her mother Leonie Urdang fled apartheid South Africa for London in the 1960s, before founding the North London Academy in 1970 which later became The Urdang Academy in1978. The academy, which was acquired by City, University of London in 2022, built up a reputation as one of the best places to study professional dance and musical theatre in the world.

Urdang, herself an alumnus of the academy, oversaw its operations from 2001 to 2022. Prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, she raised between £350,000 to £500,000 for student scholarships at the academy as well as discretionary maintenance bursaries which further helped students meet their financial needs.