The Artistic Youths' Club was established formally as an organ of the
Kyiv branch of the
Komsomol in 1960, and held its first congress on 8 March 1960. Intended as an
internationalist organisation, it almost exclusively consisted of Ukrainians affiliated with the
Sixtier movement. Director
Les Tanyuk became the club's head, and several sections were organised, dedicated to art, film, music, theatre, and writing, each being active in pursuing their own artform. The music section organised Ukraine's first jazz ensemble in Kyiv, while the theatre section established a troupe. Ukrainian writer
Stepan Protsiuk argued in 2018 that the Artistic Youths' Club had a significant impact on a revival of national consciousness among young Ukrainians, noting that they had come after the
Holodomor, the
Great Purge,
World War II, and the
death of Joseph Stalin.
Ivan Drach, also a writer and himself a member of the club, concurred with such a statement, saying, "It was such an interesting world, because something new, a new life, as it were, had opened up after that terrible, scary winter." By 1963 the Soviet authorities' attitude towards the Artistic Youths' Club was decidedly in opposition. Tanyuk was removed as the club's head and replaced with in February, but the group continued to organise cultural events, including a lecture in memory of
Vladimir Mayakovsky on 1 June 1963, an "Ivan Franko Evening" on 8 June, and an event in honour of
Lesya Ukrainka on 31 July. When the last event was prohibited by the Soviet authorities, the club pressed on in secret, reading her works at the
Kyiv Philharmonic. The
Shevchenko Days of 1964 was celebrated by the group as their final major event before their dissolution. The Artistic Youths' Club was disbanded in 1964, but by then Ukraine's Sixtiers had advanced to pursuits of
samvydav, or self-publishing, and more politically inclined pursuits. The club's activities
de facto continued until the
1965–1966 Ukrainian purge, when most of its former members were arrested. == Similar organisations ==