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The Guardian - UK
The Guardian - UK
National
Lanre Bakare and Amelia Gentleman

Equality groups urge cultural elite to give up Garrick Club membership

Clockwise from top left: Benedict Cumberbatch, Brian Cox, Stephen Fry, Mark Knopfler, Damien Lewis and Paul Smith, who are all Garrick Club members.
Clockwise from top left: Benedict Cumberbatch, Brian Cox, Stephen Fry, Mark Knopfler, Damien Lewis and Paul Smith, who are all Garrick Club members. Composite: EPA, Shutterstock, Getty Images

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.

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