LITERATURE AND MUSICAL LIFE IN KREMENETS UKRAINIAN GYMNASIUM (1918–1938 YEARS)

The article deals with literary and artistic life at the Kremenets Ukrainian Gymnasium named after Ivan Steshenko. On the basis of archival materials the teaching staff of the educational institution, which functioned in the territory of the Second Rzeczpospolita, was studied. The author notes that the main component of state formation in the years of the Ukrainian People's Republic was the formation and development of Ukrainian national education and culture. The first step in implementing the national school reform was the creation of conditions for the introduction of the Ukrainian language in high school and the opening of new Ukrainian gymnasia. Numerous documents stored in the State Archives of the Ternopil region (351, «Private Ukrainian Gymnasium of Joint Training in Kremenets»), reveal the activity of the educational institution and confirm its prominent role in the educational life of the Ukrainian population of Kremenets. The researcher emphasizes the pedagogical skills of the teaching staff of the Kremenets Ukrainian Gymnasium, and the understanding of the important role of education in the process of preserving national dignity and spirituality contributed to the formation of students' professional and intellectual development. In its activity, the Ukrainian gymnasium has repeatedly faced difficulties: lack of funding, lack of premises adapted properly to educational needs, lack of appropriate material and technical base, but it became the center of high culture and education. The content of the first issue of the handwritten literary and artistic magazine "Youth" was analyzed, on the basis of the memoirs of the student of the gymnasium and the editor of the almanac U. Samchuk, the names of the members of the literary circle were established. The main aspects of the cultural-artistic collaboration of the teaching staff and the students' collectives of the gymnasium with Prosvita Society are revealed. The musical activity of high school students was traced and the programs of concert performances were explored. Based on the memories of former students of the gymnasium, the repertoire of the theater circle under the direction of G. Berezovsky was considered, and the study of high school students at the School of National Dances V. Avramenko was analyzed. The names of well-known writers and public figures who studied in the Ukrainian gymnasium were established.