House of Art Workers

(full name, Central House of Art Workers; TsDRI), a club for people active in theater, music, the visual arts, and vaudeville. Organized in Moscow in 1930 (under the Central Committee of the Art Workers’ Trade Union) under the name of Club of Theatrical Workers. In 1934, after consolidation with the Artists’ Club, it was named the Club of Masters of Art, and in 1939, the Central House of Art Workers.

The TsDRI organizes lectures, creative evenings by masters of the arts, art exhibitions, excursions, parties, and meetings with scientists and writers. It has a branch of the University of Marxism-Leninism of the Moscow City Committee of the CPSU, as well as universities and lecture bureaus on art, culture, and aesthetics. There are sections for political indoctrination, theater and motion pictures, fine arts, music, variety art and circus, and radio and television; for work with art students, university students, and children; and for cultural ties with foreign workers in the field of art. There are creative musical associations (of wind-instrument players, chamber musicians, and vocalists) and creative groups (symphony orchestra and various musical ensembles). The Theater of the Reader and the Poet, the People’s Philharmonic Orchestra, and the Philharmonic Orchestra for Children and Adolescents were founded in 1962. There is a library (more than 100,000 volumes).