Children's art olympiads and reviews pre-war years: achievements and challenges

The article is devoted to the analysis of the circumstances of the organization of reviews and olympiads of children's creativity – multidisciplinary and multi-level events of a competitive and demonstration nature, held in the USSR in the 1930s – early 1940s. The work is based on documents from several collections of Moscow and central archives (the Russian State Archive of Socio-Political History, the Central Archive of the City of Moscow), and also includes publications in periodicals of those years, reference literature, and Internet materials. Having touched upon some aspects of the evolution of the use of the term “Olympiad” to designate reviews and competitions of children’s amateur performances, the author turns to the organizational and pedagogical origins of these competitive events, examines their organizational and motivational foundations, as well as the circumstances of their organization and implementation. The reasons for the beginning of the widespread development of extracurricular work with children and adolescents in the 1930s are indicated, and the place of olympiads, competitions and reviews in this work is outlined. Particular attention is paid to the problem of identifying young talents, which emerged in the early 1930s in the field of artistic education, then in the field of technical education in the second half of the 1930s. The prevailing pioneer component of school and extracurricular work, as well as numerous competitions, contests, and olympiads of children's creativity, is emphasized; parallels are drawn between the organization and progress of the first All- Union Pioneer Rally of 1929 and the planned organization of the All-Union Children's Creativity Olympiad, planned for 1940.