The Delphic Games in the world are complex competitions of young art workers of high level of mastership. Being in demand in present-day conditions they are held nowadays in 48 folk, classical and contemporary nominations (piano, violin, folk instruments, wind instruments, pop singing, folk singing, academical singing, pop dance, folk dance, theater, dramatic reading, circus, DJ, photography, poster, web design, journalism, television, cooking, hairdressing, preservation of cultural heritage, folk crafts, etc). The Games are the effective means for preserving cultural heritage, looking for young talents and supporting them, giving aesthetic education to the growing up generation, helping to form cultural personality, supporting the dialogue between cultures and developing cultural diversity. The Games are supported by UNESCO, the Council of Europe, the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe, the European Commission, the Executive Committee of the Commonwealth of Independent States, the Council on Cultural Cooperation of the CIS Member States.
The distinctive feature of these competitions is the fact that besides the individual performance every participant being the member of the official delegation defends the honor of his city, region, country and shows the cultural potential and the contemporary level of art development of his territory. The Games are the large popular event (more than 2 000 participants), which is usually held during 6 – 7 days and consists of the Official Opening Ceremony (the theatrical performance), competition and festival programs (all nominations are presented on separate scenes), the international conference, the day of delegations, the Official Closing Ceremony and the gala – concert of winners. The juries, formed for each discipline, include prominent workers of culture and art of the world, professors and doctors of art with the total number of 100 – 150 people. Practice tells that the atmosphere of celebration appears in the city which receives the Delphic Games, the positive image of the territory is formed, the biggest – ever instantaneous arrival of prominent workers of art, leading politicians and businessmen is seen, tourism development is intensified, temporary workplaces are established and after the event the number of young people occupied in the cultural field on a permanent basis increases dramatically.
The Games started officially in Greece in 582 B.C. Together with the Olympic the Delphic Games (called the Pythian before) were forbidden more than 1600 years ago and reappeared only at the beginning of the 20th century: the Delphic Festival was held in Greece in 1927 - 1930, it became the complete analog of the ancient Pythian Games. However, because of the Second World War the Higher Forum for Art was suspended.
The work on the revival of the Delphic Games continued in the 70-ies of the XX century in the Soviet Union. Accumulated experience became one of the backgrounds for the founding in 1999 of the National Delphic Council of Russia (NDC Russia) and for the working-out of the modern format of the Delphic Games.
The new era of the Delphic Games, which became the world event, started only in 2000, when with the participation of 27 countries the First World Delphic Games of the present were held by the National Delphic Council of Russia (NDC Russia) in Moscow. 938 people participated in 18 nominations and the jury included representatives of 13 countries. The Second World Delphic Games that were held in 2008 in 19 nominations gathered 1167 participants from 61 countries of 5 continents; the jury consisted of prominent art workers from 21 states. Nowadays 65 countries participate in the International Delphic Games.
The First (2002, Bryansk, the Russian Federation), the Second (2004, Chisinau, the Republic of Moldova), the Third (2005, Kiev, Ukraine), the Forth (2006, Astana, the Republic of Kazakhstan), the Fifth (2008, Minsk, the Republic of Belarus), the Sixth Open (2010, Yerevan, the Republic of Armenia), the Seven Open (2012, Astana, the Republic of Kazakhstan), the Eighth Open (2013, Novosibirsk, the Russian Federation), the Ninth (2014, Volgograd, the Russian Federation) Youth Delphic Games of the Member States of the Commonwealth of Independent States and the First Open Youth European Delphic Games (2014, Volgograd, the Russian Federation), the Tenth (2015, Orel, the Russian Federation), the Eleventh (2016, Moscow-Saint-Peterburg, the Russain Federation), the Twelfth (2017, Ekaterinburg, the Russian Federation) were held. Only in final rounds of these events participated more than 10 000 young people at the age of 10 – 25 from all the states of the Commonwealth.
The legal documents of the Games are worked out according to the “Conceptual Regulation on holding the Delphic Games and the Youth Delphic Games”, approved by the Decision of the Second Session of the International Delphic Committee (the headquarters is located in Moscow) dated February 6, 2004.
At present moment the International Delphic Committee determines the venue of the Third World Delphic Games.
