The Committee for the Reinstatement of the Delphic Games
Jeanne Bresciani
Founding Chair of the Festival
Artistic Director, Isadora Duncan International Institute
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Jeanne Bresciani, M.A., Kress Fellow in Art History, M.A., Fulbright Scholar in Dance, I.M.A. in Archetypal Psychology/Laban Studies, Ph.D., the main protégée of Maria Theresa Duncan, adopted daughter of Isadora Duncan, serves as Artistic Director for the Isadora Duncan International Institute (idii.org). Her influence includes the development as Faculty at New York University of the first accredited Duncan training programs in the US, to follow in Asia and Europe realigning Duncan studies on a par with the great traditions and festivals of the West in performance at ancient sites as those in Greece, where she serves as the Founding Chair of The Festival for the Reinstatement of the Delphic Games in conjunction with the Delphic Ecumenical Union; and in Italy within the ongoing development of Carnevale di Venezia and the Serenissima Circle. Jeanne is the recipient of awards including The “Tenth Muse” Golden Award 2016 Granted by the Universal Delphic Union and the Honorable Panos J. Kaltsis. Her stages have encompassed four continents and include Lincoln Center, The British Museum, The Joyce Theatre and archaeological sites throughout Greece & Sicily, to name a few.
Panagiotis Kaltsis
Co-Chair of the Festival
Mayor Emeritus, Delphi, Greece
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Panos J Kaltsis born and lives in Delphi, Mayor of Delphi 2003-2011. Founding member of the committee revives the Symposium of the 7 Wise Men Vice-President European Environment Committee ΄΄Sauvez Delphes ΄1978-1990. Member of the Board of Directors the European Cultural Center 2004-2008. Founder and president of Ecumenical Delphic Union, with the aim of reviving the Global Good ‘’Delphic Pythians Games΄΄ activating the World Delphi Citizens at the triptych Culture, Peace, Environment. Livelihoods, manages the Family Tourism Enterprise Iniochos S A with a new innovative product Delphi Dream House for well being.
Zoie Lafis
Co-Chair of the Festival
Executive Director, Harvard University's Center for Hellenic Studies
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Zoie Lafis serves as Executive Director at the Center for Hellenic Studies in Washington, DC, since 1996. She studied Political Science and Economics at Wellesley College in Wellesley, MA, and before her appointment at CHS she worked for the National Museum of Women in the Arts as an administrator. As the CHS US Executive Director she works closely with the CHS US Faculty Director and bridges the administrative structure and everyday operation of the CHS with the main Harvard campus, making sure that the Center stays consistent with the University guidelines and policies, and that the University may remain aware of the Center’s needs and the development of new projects both in Washington and in Greece. At the same time, she is coordinating all program Managers and Coordinators of the Center, while supporting and monitoring planning and implementation of various CHS programs. She develops exhibitions at the CHS Washington campus to explore material culture as a means of expression and to promote the value of creative interpretations of the ancient world. Her interests include visual and performing arts, which Zoie practices through painting and dance.
Eleni Sikelianos
Chair of Poetic Arts
Granddaughter of Angelos Sikelianos, acclaimed poet & scholar
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Eleni Sikelianos was born and raised in California and earned her MFA from the Naropa Institute. She is the great-granddaughter of Greek poet Angelos Sikelianos and the niece of Anne Waldman. She is the author of eight poetry collections, including Make Yourself Happy (2017), The Loving Detail of the Living & the Dead (2013), Body Clock (2008), and The California Poem (2004). She is also author of the hybrid memoirs You Animal Machine (The Golden Greek) (2014) and The Book of Jon (2004). Sikelianos has received numerous honors and awards for her writing and translations, including fellowships from the National Endowment for the Arts, the Fulbright Commission, and Princeton University, where she was a Seeger fellow. She has held residencies at Yaddo, the Lannan Foundation in Marfa, and La Maison des Écrivains Étrangers in Brittany and is the recipient of two Gertrude Stein Awards for Innovative American Writing, a New York Foundation for the Arts Award in Nonfiction Literature, a James D. Phelan Award, and a New York State Council for the Arts Translation Award. On guest faculty at the Naropa Summer Writing Program, she teaches in the Literary Arts Program at Brown University and lives with her husband, the novelist Laird Hunt.
Christoph Quarch
Chair of Scholarship
Philosopher, best-selling author, speaker, Platonic & Hellenic scholar, companion and inspirer for enterprises
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Dr. Christoph Quarch (*1964) is a philosopher, bestselling author and thinker. He advises companies, teaches at various universities and organizes philosophical journeys together with ZEIT-Reisen. With his podcasts, articles and numerous books, he reaches a wide audience throughout the German-speaking world. In doing so, he draws from the sources of European philosophy to find viable answers to the challenges of the 21st century. His major purpose is a well-grounded and advanced interpretation of human existence by which guidelines for a good and healthy life can be achieved. As for this he refers to different philosophical traditions from Plato and Aristotle up to Nietzsche and Heidegger. In 2019, the founded the New Platonic Academy (www.akademie_3.org) to develop a new intellectual and spiritual paradigm for the digital age. Actual publication: The Great Yes. How to Unleash the Meaning of Live, Kindle 2021; www.christophquarch.de
Dimitri Vassilakis
Chair of Music
Internationally acclaimed Greek saxophonist, vocalist, composer and educator with 4 award-winning albums for historic jazz label Candid Records
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Dimitri Vassilakis an internationally acclaimed Greek saxophonist, vocalist, composer and educator with 4 award-winning albums for historic jazz label Candid Records. Born in Athens, he has recorded 5 albums for historic jazz label Candid Records based in London. Vassilakis has appeared all around the globe, notably in New York at Dizzy’ s Club - Jazz at The Lincoln Center, Birdland, Yale, Natural History Museum DC Smithsonian Institute, Jazz Showcase, Onassis Cultural Centre, London Jazz Festival Ronnie Scott’s and major festivals. He has taught at Yale, Queens, Skidmore, Columbia, DePaul, Georgia Tech, Paris Conservatoire, Singularity, Aristotle and Macedonia Universities, since 2017 adjunct faculty at the Athens University. Vassilakis is the founder and artistic director of Rhodes & South Aegean Jazz Festival that has become a sister festival with Bodrum Jazz Festival strengthening the artistic bond between the two countries presenting the international jazz scene.
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Artemis Herber
Chair of Material Culture
Award winning German-born artist exhibited throughout the US, Germany, UK, Italy and Spain
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German-born artist, Artemis Herber has exhibited throughout the US, Germany, UK, Italy and Spain. Highlights include Lost Spaces, Kunstverein Paderborn, Room Installation at Munich International Airport, Cardboard City at the Goethe-Institut, Washington, DC, No Man’s Land at Artisphere in Arlington, VA, (Un)Common Spaces at the Spartanburg Art Museum, SC, This End Up-The Art of Cardboard at the San Jose Museum of Art, CA, National Trust’s Newark Park and Cheltenham Art Gallery & Museum, Gloucestershire, UK, and Beyond/In Western New York at the Albright-Knox Gallery, NY. Herber is a Baltimore Sculpture Project prize recipient, The National Weather Biennale (Norman, OK) Best in Show Award winner, and a Sondheim Semifinalist at MICA, and the First Prize Award at The Art Gallery, University of Maryland, MD. As a curator for Transatlantic Cultural Projects, Herber has created Micro-Monuments at the Salzlandmuseum, and Harvard University’s Center for Hellenic Studies, DC, and currently Micro-Monuments II: UNDERGROUND at IA&Artists at Hillyer in Washington, DC.