The Pontiyska Arena Festival was founded in Sevastopol in 1998 with the aim of popularizing variety and circus arts, creating creative assets of these genres, raising the younger generation in the best traditions of international pop and circus schools, improving the health of the festival participants and expanding their outlook.

For all the years of its existence, it has become a traditional holiday of pop and circus art in Ukraine and was conducted by the Pontiyska Arena public organization – a member of the International Association of IOV under UNESCO, together with the Ministry of Culture of Ukraine and city state administrations of Kyiv and Sevastopol with the participation of all-Ukrainian and international public organizations.

The past international festivals “Pontiyska Arena” from 1998 to 2017 gathered more than 14,000 participants from Ukraine and 15 countries of the world and were widely covered in mass media and received high praise.

From 1998 to 2013, the festival was held in Sevastopol, since 2014 the regular holding of the Major League of the festival in Bulgaria has been organized; from 2017 the main place of the festival is the city of Kyiv.

Also, in September 2017, the festival was conducted within the framework of the International Culture Week in Schwerin, Germany.