Soviet era stamp to the 60th anniversary of Artek The camp first hosted only 80 children but then grew rapidly. In 1969 it had an area of 3.2 km2 (790 acres). The camp consisted of 150 buildings, including three medical facilities, a school, the film studio Artekfilm, three swimming pools, a stadium with a seating capacity of 7,000 and playgrounds for various other activities. Unlike most of the young pioneer camps, Artek was an all-year camp, due to the warm climate. Artek consisted of a total of ten smaller camps. Each of them had its own name:
Morskoi,
Lazurny,
Kiparisny, etc. Four of these camps (
Rechnoi,
Ozyorny,
Lesnoi and
Polevoi) made up the notable
Pribrezhny complex of Artek built between 1960 and 1964. The group of architects, led by
Anatoly Polyansky, that designed
Pribrezhny was awarded the
USSR State Prize in architecture in 1967. Similar distinguished pioneer camps were maintained by several Soviet republics, e.g.,
Orlyonok in
Russian SFSR and on
Byelorussian SSR. In
East Germany the
Ernst Thälmann Pioneer Organisation built a pioneer camp similar to Artek in 1952 at Werbellinsee north-east of
Berlin. (the 52 route).
2000s The center was part of the
Ukraine's State Management of Affairs. 60% of visitors arrive on a state subsidized or free basis. The beneficiaries are children from low income and large families, as well as orphans, handicapped and gifted children. In 2005 full prices were in the range of ₴3,000–5,000, depending on the season and location. 2007 prices were from US$770 to about $2,000. In 2004 it was officially recognized by
UNESCO as a site for the implementation of international projects and in particular during the UN Decade of Education (2005–2014). 2005 was the year of Artek's 80th anniversary and the camp hosted about 13,000 children in educational camps under the supervision of about 2,000 of volunteer squad leaders managed by permanent pedagogical staff of over 200 under the command of general director Olga Guzar (Ольга Владимировна Гузар). Traditionally Artek provided a base (known as a School of Pedagogues-Organizers) for hands-on training of students of pedagogical schools. This tradition has been continued today and the camp is known as the ''Humanitarian Institute 'Artek''. In 2005 students from Ukraine,
Russia,
Belarus,
Moldova and
Kazakhstan were trained there. As of late 2008 Artek was in financial trouble, which was solved when the
Ukrainian Parliament passed laws early February 2009 writing off more than $2 million in debt (and more in unpaid taxes), barred privatization of the camp's land and obliged government agencies to pay the expenses of 15,000 children each year.
Artek since the 2014 Russian annexation of Crimea international contest for young pop music performers that was held in Artek. Early in 2014 season, following the
2014 Russian annexation of Crimea, the staff of the camp officially moved from Crimea to
Bukovel in the
Carpathian Mountains. The new center there was named International Children Center "Artek-Carpathians" and consisted of three camps "Lake", "Forest" and "Mountain." Meanwhile, the original site in Crimea remained open. In October 2014, the Russian government allocated 21 billion rubles (US$568 million) for reconstruction and development. On 16 June 2014, by the decree of the Government of the Russian Federation, the federal state budgetary educational institution "International Children's Center "Artek" was established. The functions of the founder were transferred to the Ministry of Education and Science of the Russian Federation, and a draft program for the development of the center was prepared. During the open discussion of the draft Concept, 894 expert opinions were received. In accordance with the final document which was presented on 8 October 2014 in
Moscow, in addition to recreation the innovative educational activities were identified as a priority area of the center's work. In the autumn of 2014, Artek started work on the improvement of the territory, reconstruction and major buildings repairs. About 5 billion rubles were allocated from the Russian budget for the reconstruction of Artek. In 2014–2015, a large-scale reconstruction of the camp was implemented. It is included completion of unfinished buildings, construction of new buildings and other infrastructure facilities. Inside the buildings service lines were changed, new furniture was delivered, the dining room was restored, and a sports ground was equipped with wide range of sports equipment. The swimming pools were also renovated, and the camp was equipped with modern computers. On 27 February 2015, 4 buildings of the camp "Lazurny" were put into operation. There are three ways to get to Artek: for special achievements in science, culture, sports; winning a competition of a partner organization; or for an amount exceeding 80,000 rubles. In 2014, Artek hosted 5,854 children, in 2015 – 18,858, in 2016 – 31,200, in 2017 – 39,000, in 2018 – 40,000 children, in 2019 – 44,025 children, in 2020 – 17,287 children (reduced capacity due to the COVID-19 pandemic) from different regions of the Russian Federation and abroad. These numbers include more than 6,300 children from 87 foreign countries who visited Artek from 2014 to 2020. ==Controversies==