Cultural organisations and equality campaigners have called on high-profile figures in the arts to give up their membership of the all-male Garrick Club, saying it undermines attempts to reduce gender bias in the sector and actively encourages inequality.
More than half a dozen groups said they were concerned at the revelation that several cultural leaders, including the chair of the English National Opera and the chief executive of the Royal Opera House, were part of the exclusive club.
Vick Bain, the founder of F-List and campaigner for gender equality in music, said: “The fact that so many of the chairs and CEO’s of our finest music organisations are members of such a club should ring alarm bells as to their true beliefs and attitudes towards gender equality.”
Matthew Dunster, the co-chair of Stage Directors UK, said: “It is depressing that people in the arts would want to be members of such a club.”
A spokesperson for Her Ensemble, an organisation that campaigns for equality in classical music, said: “It ultimately undermines a lot of the progress that the industry is making and encourages inequality.”
Their comments come after the Guardian revealed the Garrick’s closely guarded members list, the first time in the organisation’s history that it has been exposed.
Politicians, senior civil servants and legal professionals are joined on the list by the actors Brian Cox, Matthew Macfadyen, Hugh Bonneville, Hugh Laurie, Stephen Fry, Benedict Cumberbatch, David Suchet and Damian Lewis.
The chair of the Royal Ballet school, Christopher Rodrigues, his counterpart at the English National Opera, Harry Brünjes, the chief executive of the Royal Opera House, Alex Beard, and the artistic director of the Wigmore Hall, John Gilhooly, are also members.
Boris Johnson, a former prime minister, defended the Garrick, of which he was once a member, and criticised the pressure that caused the resignations of the MI6 chief Richard Moore, cabinet secretary Simon Case and OBR head Robert Chote from the club.
He wrote in the Daily Mail: “Come on, guys, what happened to you? It’s always sad when people give in to bullies, but there was something particularly tragic about the Garrick Three.”
However, he acknowledged the case for admitting female members to the all-male club.
Many organisations the Guardian approached said the presence of the British culture sector’s elite on the member’s roll of a club that still denies women membership was a sign that it did not take gender equality seriously.
The Garrick organises a drama club dinner every year, with about 40 members and a plus-one for each, often their wives. It gathers West End producers, actors, writers and directors.
A senior female West End producer expressed frustration at being invited to attend social events organised by male colleagues at the club. News reports about high-profile figures in the arts had “led to gnashing of teeth and rolling of eyes among many of the women of West End theatre”, she said.
“The club has dozens of members from the world of theatre – actors, directors, writers and producers. I think it is rather sad and depressing that some members of the Garrick Club still want to maintain this as an exclusive space for only men.”
Gabriella Di Laccio, the soprano and founder of Donne: Women in Music, a charitable foundation dedicated to gender equality in the music industry, said: “Real change requires tangible actions that dismantle these outdated structures … this moment should serve as a call to action for everyone in society to lead by example.”
Jennifer Tuckett, an academic who has just finished a five-year research project looking at equality in British theatre, said her analysis showed that male leaders recruiting from their networks and unconsciously excluding women, was still a significant issue.
She said: “Gender inequality is not being addressed with the seriousness that is needed in the arts … a problem which approaches like the Garrick Club would exacerbate.”
Arts Council England (ACE), which provides funding for the English National Opera, Wigmore Hall and the Royal Opera House, said “personal memberships of this kind are a matter for the individuals concerned”.
An ACE spokesperson added, however, that as a distributor of public money “we make clear that we expect our investment to support cultural experiences and job opportunities to be available for everyone in England, irrespective of where they live, their background or how much money they have in their pocket”.
The Garrick has been contacted for comment.
The criticism follows an open letter signed by more than 60 lawyers in England and Wales who say membership to the Garrick Club “perpetuates systemic discrimination against women”.
• This article was amended on 24 March 2024 to include a correct image for Mark Knopfler.
