The Education Department at MOMA was directed by the artist and art educator Victor D'Amico. D'Amico traveled through the United States to know art education programs in schools, and has worked previously in settlement houses in New York. D'Amico also passed time at the Black Mountain College. The Children's Art Carnival and Through the Enchanted Gate were two of the most important and experimental programs he created at MOMA. Both programs started from the conviction that children were naturally creative and should be left free from adult interference to develop their creativity.

Victor D'Amico was the Director of the Department of Education at the Museum of Modern Art in New York since 1937. D'Amico was an artist and art educator influenced by John Dewey's child-centered pedagogy. For him, creativity should prepare the child to live in a democratic society. At MOMA, D'Amico created the Children's Art Carnival, a program for young children from 1942 (the year of publication of this book) to 1969.