J. Christian B. Kirsch

Johann Christian Bernhard Kirsch also “J.C.B. Kirsch”, born in Altlandsberg near Berlin, Germany in 1943, is the founder of the International Delphic Council and has been its Secretary General since 1994.
Personal life
Education and career
Kirsch spent his early childhood in Berlin and Hamburg. He attended school first in Germany and later in Austria. In 1961 he finished his education at the Art Department of the Federal Vocational School in Steyr, Austria. He was first employed as an engraver and designer at a pewter foundry in Regensburg. After his military service with the German Air Force Kirsch worked as a self-employed graphic designer and advertizing consultant. After further education in business management he joined the American Express Bank Inc. in Berlin and later worked as a sales representative for Hertz in Berlin and Munich. In 1969 Kirsch started his own business and worked as a management consultant for international clients for 18 years.
Art and cultural ties
Since the end of the 60s Kirsch fostered contacts to artists and performers, as sponsor and advisor. In the 70s he focused his attention on further education and sponsorship for artists which resulted in reflections of establishing a lasting forum of international competitions of the Arts. Of crucial importance was his exchange with Prof. Dr. Hellmut Flashar, dean of the Classical Philology Faculty of Ludwig Maximilian University Munich, Bavaria. He encouraged Kirsch to delve into the Delphic Games of antiquity, also called the Pythian Games.
In the 80s educational trips throughout Europe also took him to Greece several times where he met personalities like H.M. Queen Sophia of Spain, closely related with Greece. For several months Kirsch lived in Delphi and a year in Athens. He had talks with composer, writer and politician Mikis Theodorakis, Greece’s former Ministers for Culture, Melina Mercouri and Tzannis Tzannetakis as well as with Antonis Samaras, today’s Greek Prime Minister.
In 1989/90 Kirsch supported composers, conductors and politician Stavros Xarchakos in his campaign as Minister of Culture designate of Nea Dimokratia. Later they both worked for “Sky Channel FM Stereo”, the biggest private radio station at the time. Together they developed Europe oriented programs. On behalf of the radio station Kirsch interviewed European politicians inside and outside Greece. The impressions and insights in Greece encouraged Kirsch to revive the Delphic Games.
Since the 90s his work was devoted to founding an international body that was supposed to organize and run the Delphic Movement. Kirsch consulted Musician, Pedagogue and Conductor Lord Yehudi Menuhin, Former President of former Soviet Union Mikhail S. Gorbachev, the Indian philosopher, writer and politician Karan Singh, the Director of the European Culture Centre Delphi (ECCD) Evangelos Arabatzis as well as UNESCO Director General Federico Mayor Zaragoza.
Foundation of the International Delphic Council and preparation of the First Delphic Congress

At J.C.B. Kirsch’s invitation the founding meeting of the International Delphic Council (IDC) took place on December 15, 1994 when founding members from twenty nations and five continents met in Schönhausen Palace, Berlin. Chaired by Kirsch they discussed the statutes and shaped as most important aims the promotion of contemporary art, the preservation of the cultural heritage, the empowerment of peaceful dialogues of cultures and of friendship of peoples by the reintroduction of Delphic Games.
The founding meeting of the IDC elected Kirsch to the office of Secretary General that he still holds today. Among his main tasks are the management of the non-profit organization, the implementation of resolutions, the planning and organizing of Delphic Conferences and the supervision of applications for hosting Delphic Games as well as their allocation and realization.
As a symbol of the International Delphic Movement and Delphic Games of the modern era the founding members adopted a design by Kirsch consisting of an infinite, colored ribbon, arranged in interlacing six half-circles on a white background. They symbolize the affinity of the six Delphic Art Categories of: (1) Musical Arts, (2) Performing Arts, (3) Language Arts, (4) Visual Arts, (5) Social Arts and (6) Ecological Arts & Architecture. Kirsch developed this symbol and, in collaboration with
Pro Heraldica, the code of arms of the International Delphic Council.
On December 1, 1995, at a special meeting of the Moscow Duma, Kirsch gave a speech on the subject of “The Delphic Games - cooperation between culture and economy” and was the first foreigner to be allowed to speak to this body. In September 1995 Vladimir A. Yakovlev, assistant mayor for culture of St. Petersburg, was guest of the IDC in Berlin and handed over to Kirsch the official invitation of the city of St. Petersburg to realize the First Delphic Congress. On March 25, 1996 Kirsch opened the First Delphic Congress in St. Petersburg. The meeting was under the patronage of Anatoly Sobchak, Governing Mayor of St. Petersburg, Daniel Tarschys, General Secretary of the European Council and Federico Mayor Zaragoza, General Secretary of UNESCO.
Highlights of the activity as Secretary General of the IDC
One year after the First Junior Delphic Games 1997 and the First Delphic Congress took place in Georgia, the First Delphic Games 2000 were hosted in Russia. Both games marked the beginning of the chronology of Delphic Games of the modern era every four years in two year intervals, at different places world-wide.
In 2003 Kirsch was honored for his commitment by the president of the Moscow City Duma, Vladimir Platonov and by the city of St. Petersburg. In the same year the II Junior Delphic Games took place in Germany. A year later, in 2004, Nelson Mandela became Delphic Youth Ambassador. Cooperation’s with national and regional organizations for the realization of the II Delphic Games 2005 in Malaysia were established, followed by the III Junior Delphic Games 2007 in the Philippines, the III Delphic Games 2009 in South Korea and the IV Junior Delphic Games 2011 in South Africa.
Apart from the Delphic Games, conferences and meetings Kirsch is committed to networking with international organizations, associations, and affected business sectors. That is why, in 2005, cooperation with the ITB Berlin, The World’s Leading Travel Trade Show for tourism, emerged. Since 2010 the IDC has organized "The Delphic Festival - The Grand Finale of the ITB Berlin".
Between September 23 and 25, 2013 the Delphic Games Summit took place in Athens and Delphi. The Greek Minister for Culture, Panos Panagiotopoulos welcomed the President of the IDC, Divina Bautista, Secretary General Kirsch and other representatives of the IDC and of the national Delphic Councils in the Acropolis Museum in Athens. On the initiative of Kirsch, in 2014 Spyros Mercouris, creative artist and manager as well as member of the Melina Mercouri Foundation, became Honorary President of the International Delphic Council.

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