Media and Entertainment is an industry that is vast and offers a lot of scope and opportunities for aspiring students. With different kinds of branches that are out of the box and inspiring many to enter the industry.
Featuring for The Business Fame’s this issue of The Fastest Growing Companies to Admire in 2022 is Horizon Institute of Design.
Let us find out more in this interview.
Q. Give a detailed description of the Founder/CEO/Management’s contribution over the company and the industry?
Sanjay Khimesara, a first generation Educationist & Entrepreneur with 29years of overall & 25 years of experience in AVGC/Digital Media Education is the Founder of Arena Geeta Bhawan, Indore (Firm-Horizon Institute of Design,HID). He is inspired by the idea: “All you have got is given by the world, Give back the best you have to the world”
He is devoted in ‘Creating the Winning Careers’ via Job Oriented Creative Skills like Animation, Visual FX, Gaming, Comic, Web, UI & UX and Graphics & Visual Design etc.
Mr. Khimesara is also Director of a Asifa Animation Foundation & a Core Committee Member of ASIFA India (The Association of International Du Film D’ Animation, officially called ASIFA, a professional body, recognized by UNESCO, devoted to developing film animation both as an art and also as an effective means of communication. ASIFA today enjoys representation from over 50+ countries & Indian chapter is operational since 22 years.
Mr.Khimesara graduated in Engineering & completed PG in Management from IMS before commencing Arena Geeta Bhawan (HID) in the year1997. He has been an active contributor to M&E Sector and got dozens of recognitions including Golden Pixel Award as Backbone of AVGC Industry, Business & Corporate Leader: 50 Under 50 in 2022, Indian CSR Award 2021, Indian Achiever Award-2021, Top 100 Admired People in Education-2021, Global Educational Influencers- 2020, Captains of Industry, Trailblazers of Education, Icons of Education, Excellence Awards for Socio Economic contribution, Several Commendation Certificates from State Police, Appreciation from I-Can Foundation for Humanitarian Award-2021 etc.
Mr.Khimesara is termed as pioneer & trendsetter of Digital Media & Animation (AVGC) & his organization Arena Geeta Bhawan(HID) is on the forefront of skilling and helping youth of creative domain in employment with the support from leading Conglomerates like Aptech Group, Tata Group, Autodesk, NSDC/MESC etc.
Mr.Khimesara support marginalized youth seeking self-employment/freelance or jobs. Select youth in the Lower Income or BPL category are supported for Free Education with sponsorship by leading Global Corporate’ s under CSR initiatives.
He regularly volunteer for community building of Creative Artists under Animation & Film making. As Core Group Member of Asifa India, He is Chief of Programming for activities like International Animation Day, CG Meet up throughout the year with global experts. He is also involved in Women Creators Program across South East Asia by Epic Games for Asifa India. Mr.Khimesara actively Volunteer for TASI & is Lead Patron for MP-AVGC/XR.
Students & Alumni from Arena Geeta Bhawan(HID) have been actively contributing for the M&E industry. His Design School has over 200+ Industry Internship tie-up’s in Indore itself & have successfully adopted as Social Incubation Studio Model thereby supporting Public Sector organizations like Madhya Pradesh Police, Indore Management Association etc for developing digital content for welfare of people.
Apart from 250+ accolades to existing students, 20+ alumni from Mr.Khimesara’s Design school have been part of 6 Oscar Awarded Films for Outstanding Visual Effects & Editing, 04 National Awarded films for Animation & Visual Effects. For 2022 also 10+ graduates have been credited on shortlisted films at Academy Awards, BAFTA, VES etc.
Mr.Khimesara actively contribute as Expert on various online communities like Shiksha & Quora. He is also a Certified Career Coach & guides youth for right career path using scientific means of psychometric analysis and has already guided nearly 50k aspirants. He regularly give talks in leading School, Colleges & Universities across Madhya Pradesh.
Video Messages by 50 Industry Experts & Alumni on 25th Foundation Day(9.9.21):
https://arenagbs.wordpress.com/2021/10/04/industry-alumni-speaks/
Few Snaps of Recent Activities-
https://bit.ly/hidarena
Q. Please Tell us about company products/ Services in detail?
Arena Geeta Bhawan(HID)caters to Media & Entertainment Sector with focus on AVGC Sector ie. Animation, Visual Effects, Gaming & Comic & Digital Media including Graphics & Visual Communication, Web & Mobile Design, UI-UX Design, Broadcast Design etc.
Arena Geeta Bhawan(HID)offers 50+ courses including-
Animation, Gaming & Vfx Course
https://www.arena-multimedia.com/in/en/courses/animation-vfx-gaming
Animation Course–
https://www.arena-multimedia.com/in/en/courses/animation
Web & Graphic Programs–
https://www.arena-multimedia.com/in/en/courses/web-and-graphics
Visual Effects Programs–
https://www.arena-multimedia.com/in/en/courses/vfx
UI & UX Programs-
https://www.arena-multimedia.com/in/en/courses/ui-ux
Gaming, AR-VR Programs–
https://www.arena-multimedia.com/in/en/courses/gaming-ar-vr
Digital Designing & Marketing Program–
https://www.arena-multimedia.com/in/en/courses/digital-designing-and-marketing
Broadcast Programs–
https://www.arena-multimedia.com/in/en/courses/broadcast
Multimedia Programs–
https://www.arena-multimedia.com/in/en/courses/multimedia
Short Term Programs–
https://www.arena-multimedia.com/in/en/courses/short-term-courses
Q. Could you please share your noted milestones, accomplishments throughout your journey so far, along with company highlights and achievements under your leadership.
Few Milestones for Arena Geeta Bhawan(HID), Indore
- Nationwide Award 2022: Business & Corporate Leaders-Under 50
Certificate & Recognition of 50 under 50 - Expert & Member at FELA( Federation of Education Leaders & Administrators)
- Appreciation from I-Can Foundation’s Humanitarian Excellence Award-Dec’2021
- Indian CSR Award-2021 for Initiative of the year in Vocational Education
- Moderator of Panel discussion on CSR in India
- Featured in Magazine- The Philanthropist
- Indian Achiever Award-2021
- Achiever of the Year-2019 by Tata Institute of Social Sciences, SVE (Media & Entertainment Vertical): March’2019,
- Golden Pixel Award-2019 as Backbone of Indian AVGC Industry, by Maharashtra Cosmopolitan Education Society, Pune in Jan’2019
- Red Achievers Award-2021,
- Top 100 Admired People in Education-2021
- Gurukul Jyoti Certificate of Honor
- Trailblazers of Education in Madhya Pradesh
- Global Educational Influencers, 2020
- National Excellence Award for Outstanding Contribution for Socio-Economic Development
- India Education Excellence Award as “Best Digital Media & Animation Academy of Central India “
- M.P. Entrepreneur & Excellence Award by My FM
- Captains of the Industry in M.P. by CM, MP State
- 20 Consecutive Excellence Award for Best performance in Centre, Faculty & Quality Audits by Arena under Pune Region(1998-2017)
- Best Placement Award in West Zone Arena
- 3 National Excellence Award by Arena for Lead Management System
- 3 Commendation Certificate from PRTS, MP Police, Traffic Police
- Appreciation by RRCAT, AIM, Earth & Us
- Panelist & Speaker at Vidyadaan of MESC on topic-The trending Era of AVGC– Video
- Advanced Certification on Career Counselling by Mentoria
- Featured by Startup Lanes as Best Institute in Skill Training
- Confederation of Indian Industries- Industry Summit Fx-2021 : Panelist on “Building Eco System through State AVGC Associations” for India’s Creative Industry
- Conducted Virtual Session for a Government College of Ujjain
- International Certified Career Coach(ICCC) Certification by Mindler
- Patron & Key member of Madhya Pradesh AVGC- XR Association
- Inaugurated One Animation Studio in Indore
- Six Vfx Oscar to Arena Geeta Bhawan Graduates
- Talk Show at Management college, Ujjain
- Jury at Daly College for a 3 days Visual Fest of leading Public Schools from across India- ‘Meraki’
- Interview at Red-FM : Pate Ki Baat
- Interview at My FM : Ek Mulakat
- Live on Star Sports for Best Wishes initiative using Calligraphy during World Cup
- Career Guidance Session at Ujjain Engineering College
- Organized Quora Meet up in Indore
- Participated in NSDC Job Fair
- Career Guidance on Television News Channel
- Interview at Red FM India
- Hosted Dean of Tata Institute of Social Sciences, School of Vocational Education
- Hosted Expert from Walt Disney Studio, United States
- Experts from TCS-iON during Session for Students
- Hosted TASI Session with Legendry Artists
- Teamed with Indore Management Association for Animation Maestro to do local talent hunt
Few Milestones for Students of Arena Geeta Bhawan(HID), Indore
- Orbit Live Star Talent Award-2016
- Student Animation Film Rules on the Road for traffic police got Seven recognitions & 50k Cash Award at Gujarat One Minute Film Festival, Chandigarh International Film Festival, Chitrabharti Film Festival, Do Good Karma Fest,U Special International Film Festival, First Cut Film Festival (FAME,Pune).
- Stop Motion Animation Film Adventure on Climate Change : The Adventures of Kevin got 9 Nominations including Kinephone Film Fest, Tiff Video Challenge, OakVille Festival of Film & Art, I-phone Film Fest, Indevise Free Virtual Fest, PremioCenemetographikoPelena, Chambal International Film Fest etc.
- Film Helmet &Masoom got Best Film Award by Safe India Foundation
- Stop motion Film Toilet-EkSochSurekshakeliye got two Awards at Chambal Film Festival, Kota & Chandigarh University Film Fest in 2019 with Cash Prizes
- Big Ganesha Award, Pune & CNBC Golden Cursor Award- Best & Brightest Category
- Regional Winner, India Skill Championship by NSDC, Ministry of Skills during 2018
- 38 Awards at Creative Minds(2009-2018), 30 Awards at IMA’s Animation Maestro
- Recognition to Student for Logo Design
- Conducted Multiple Free Workshop for Senior Citizens with Dainik Bhaskar
Few Milestones of Alumni Arena Geeta Bhawan(HID), Indore
- Six Oscar Credits to 20 alumni including Best Vfx -1917, Best Vfx to First Man-2019, Best Vfx to Blade Runner 2049-2018, Best Editing to Dunkirk-2018, Best Vfx to Life of Pi-2013, Best Vfx to Golden Compass(2009)
- Four National Award Credits for 10 alumni including Ra.One, Bahubali-The Beginning, Bahubali-The Conclusion for Vfx& Delhi Safari(2013) for Best Animation
- Best Cinematography Award at Paris for alumni Short film D4Dance by 48hours Film Project
- Asifa India Award for Excellence(Four Nomination)
- Window Short Film got Awards at Spain, France Germany
- Five Cash Awards at My Gov initiative & Maharashtra Government
Industry Connect: Top few Experts Visit (300+ visits)
- DhimantVyas
- Vaibhav Kumaresh
- ProsenjitGanguly
- E.Suresh
- Geetanjali Rao
- Anand Bhanushali
- Chetan Sharma + 200 others visited centre in past 22+ years
International Expert Session during Community building activities
- Vani Saraswathi (Dreamworks, China)
- Rajesh Sharma (Walt Disney Studio ,US)
- Doerthe Eickelberg(Improve, Germany)
- William Dennis(President, Emirates, Asifa India President, US )
- Ron Diamond(Animation World Network,US)
- Ed Hooks ,UK(Acting for Animators, Portugal)
- Pete Draper (MakutaVfx, UK/Hyd)
- Arnauld Bullard(Mcguff Studio, France)
- Glenn Vilppu (Famous Artist & Animation Sketching Professor from US)
- Dr.Stuart Sumedha, US
- Walt Jones, Animator, US
- Pillar Alessendra, Writer, US
- Zack Parrish, Netflix Animation, US
- Bradford Simonsen, Disney Animation, US
- Suki Lee & Amol Sathe, Walt Disney, US
Industry Alliances
- Aptech Ltd (Arena Animation Brand)
- MESC (Media & Entertainement Skills Council
- Autodesk ATC( Authorized Training Centre)
- AWSITC (Premier ATC for World Skills Championship)
- TISS-SVE (Vocational Qualification Programs)
Social Connect
- Association Internationale du Film d’Animation (ASIFA)
- The Animation Society of India(TASI)
- Earth & us (Environment initiatives)
- Indore Management Association (IMA)
- MP-AVGC XR
- Indore Police (Various Departments-PRTS, Traffic, RAPTC, MP Police)
- Road Safety Foundation, Safe India
- Religious Initiatives & Awareness efforts
- RRCAT, Indore, Unit of Bhabha Atomic Research Centre
- Indore Marathon (AIM-Academy of Indore Marathoners)
Q. Please share the most memorable and remarkable moment of your life.
Most memorable moments of life-
- When Student graduate gets Oscar/National Award for Vfx/Animation
- When Asifa India appoints Core Committee Member & Director
- When parent of girl student comes after 5 years of student’s passing out with Wedding Card and talks about exponential progress of student.
- When graduate student working in Global Corporations visits to Institute
- When Five year old Graduate comes & shares his selection with 50L package
- When Industry Recognizes as Backbone of Industry
Q. Where do you see yourself and the company in future? Or, what is your goal to mark the uniqueness in future?
We wish to continue providing positive impact to the lives of creative aspirants by providing quality Training & Placement Assistance. We aspire to commence a fully residential Design College. We are aspiring to make Central India as destination of AVGC Sector and working to bring more and more studios in Madhya Pradesh.
Q. Advice for the entrepreneur who is trying to embark in the same field.
Entrepreneur should ensure that they have tremendous passion for the medium and this sector. AVGC is suitable to those, who wish to serve the society could surely plan to enter this domain. Industry Connect, Exposure by Knowledge driven sessions and Contests & Student/alumni connect are the key to success.
Q. What is the one thing that is acting as your motivational tool? Or, who is your role model and how the person inspires and motivates you?
Motivational factor- Inner drive to help others get their right path.
Role Model- Steve Jobs for Innovation, Dr.G.C.Kathed(Father-in-law)for Growth & Behaviour.
