Art1st

What Art1st does

Art1st (legal entity: Artfirst Enterprises Pvt. Ltd.) is a New Delhi-based art education company founded in 2009 by Ritu Khoda. The company provides arts-integrated education programs to K-12 schools across India, having partnered with 81+ schools across 18+ cities including Delhi, Mumbai, Bengaluru, Hyderabad, Chennai, and Kolkata. Its core offering is the Art Education Program (AEP), which deploys trained artist-mentors to work alongside school teachers, combined with a proprietary visual arts curriculum for PreK to Grade 8 delivered through three book series (Visual Learning, Visual Exploration, Visual Experience).

The company's product portfolio spans four business lines: (1) school programs and teacher training delivered via multi-year contracts, (2) physical Art Lab installations for schools, (3) award-winning children's book publishing sold through Amazon and book festivals (5 series including Art Exploration, Arts Integrated, Eye Spy, un[BOX], and Educator Series), and (4) community engagement programs including free book distribution to 40+ community libraries and grant programs for artist-educators. Art1st also produces critically-acclaimed films on Indian artists and has run advocacy initiatives including the Art Education Roundtables (2019, 7 cities) and Art Education Summit 2019 in partnership with IGNCA and CBSE.

The business operates on a B2B model with direct school partnerships as the primary GTM motion, complemented by a B2C book sales channel and non-profit community programs. The company has 19 employees, is privately held with no disclosed external funding, and earns recognition primarily through publishing industry awards (20+ from 2015-2025, including BolognaRagazzi 2025, IPPY Awards, White Ravens). Pricing for school programs is quote-based and not publicly disclosed; books are priced ₹400-950 per unit.

Name

Art1st

Legal name

Artfirst Enterprises Pvt. Ltd.

Website

https://art1st.co.in

Company type

Private

Founded year

2009

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

11–50 employees

Short description

Art1st is a New Delhi-based art education company founded in 2009 that provides arts-integrated curriculum, teacher training, and artist-mentor deployments to 81+ K-12 schools across 18+ Indian cities, complemented by award-winning children's book publishing and community library programs.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

K-12 Art Education Services

NAICS

Fine Arts Schools (61161), Fine Arts Schools (611610), Educational Services (61), Professional and Management Development Training (611430)

akta.pro primary industry

Arts Education Instruction (Visual/Performing) (EDAJAFAK)

akta.pro secondary industries

Digital/Interactive Curriculum Content (Apps, Games, Multimedia Lessons) (EDACAJAK), Creative Arts, Music & Movement Content (EDAGACAG), Visual Arts Instruction (Drawing, Painting, Sculpture) (EDAMAAAA)

Keywords

• Arts-integrated curriculum
• K-12 art education
• Teacher training programs
• Children's art publications
• School arts programmes

Headquarters

HQ city

New Delhi

HQ country

India

HQ region

Asia

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Operations, Marketing or Sales, Others, Supply Chain

Revenue model

1. School Programs and Training: Art1st generates revenue through school partnerships where the AEP (Art Education Program) is implemented. This includes artist-mentor deployments, teacher training programs, curriculum books, and ongoing support. Schools pay for the full program which includes training, curriculum materials, and mentorship.
2. Book Sales and Publishing: Art1st publishes and sells children's books on Indian art and artists. Books are sold directly through Amazon and at book festivals/literary events. Publications include the Art Exploration Series (ages 7-12), Arts Integrated Series, Eye Spy Series (13+), and Educator Series.
3. Grants and Fellowships: Art1st awards Artist-Educator Grants to support artist-educators working in school education. The grants are supported by Art1st Foundation and partners, funding creative practices in art pedagogy.
4. Art Lab Installations: Art1st offers scalable, customizable Art Lab installations for schools, including training of staff, student-mentor engagement, and regular evaluation. This is a separate revenue stream from the AEP curriculum program.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels5 records

Marketing channels7 records

Core offering

Art1st provides art-integrated education programmes for K-12 schools in India, supplying a proprietary visual arts curriculum (Visual Learning, Visual Exploration, and Visual Experience series for PreK to Grade 8), accompanied by deployed artist-mentors who train teachers and work alongside students. Its physical Art Lab installations bring interactive art spaces into schools, while the portfolio is rounded out by award-winning children's books on Indian art and films profiling Indian visual artists.

Product overview

Art1st is an educational organization that offers a portfolio of art education products and programmes. At its core is the Arts-Integrated Education Programme (AEP), a flagship mentorship programme for art teachers in schools, complemented by independently-developed AEP Curriculum Books for pre-school (Visual Learning series), primary school (Visual Exploration series), and middle school (Visual Experience series). The portfolio includes Art1st Art Labs as first-of-its-kind physical interactive spaces for art exploration, the AEP Teachers' Training Programme for educator development, and the Community Engagement Programme (CEP) for democratic access to art. Art1st also publishes award-winning children's books through its Art Exploration Series, Arts Integrated Series, Eye Spy Series, un[BOX] Series, and Educator Series. The advocacy arm includes Art Education Roundtables (AER) and the Art Education Summit 2019. Additionally, Art1st produces critically-acclaimed films about Indian artists and administers grant programmes including the Art1st Artist-Educator Grant and Creative Educator Practitioner Grant.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• Arts-Integrated Education Programme (AEP) Flag multi-year school programme that introduces art-integrated learning to schools through deployed artist-mentors, teacher mentorship, and a proprietary PreK-to-Grade 8 visual arts curriculum; for Indian K-12 schools.
• AEP Teachers' Training Programme Three-plus-two-year hands-on training programme for school art teachers, including biannual centralised training and peer learning sessions, delivered alongside the AEP curriculum in partner schools.
• Art1st Art Labs First-of-its-kind customisable physical interactive spaces installed in schools for exploration of visual arts, featuring color grids, magnetic walls, doodle walls, art-history timelines, and student-driven learning; includes staff training, engagement, and evaluation.
• AEP Curriculum Books Proprietary curriculum books for pre-school (Visual Learning series), primary school (Visual Exploration series, Grades 1-5), and middle school (Visual Experience series, Grades 6-8); bundled with the AEP for use in partner schools.
• Visual Learning Book Kit (Pre-School) Pre-school curriculum kit encouraging unhindered exploration of art mediums through themes that foster diversity recognition, inclusion, and communication skills in young children.
• Visual Exploration Book Kit (Primary School) Five-part book kit for Grades 1-5 built on a knowledge base of Indian and global visual culture, designed to nurture creative and critical thinking in primary-school children.
• Visual Experience Book Kit (Middle School) Three-part book kit for Grades 6-8 encouraging students to analyse, synthesise, and interpret the world through concepts of art and design.
• Art Exploration Series (Children's Books) Series of children's books for ages 7-12 that explore the lives, work, philosophy, and methods of eminent Indian artists in a story format; sold commercially through Amazon and at book festivals.
• Arts Integrated Series (Children's Books) Series of books for young readers that simultaneously engage a core subject and art through narratives, activities, and Indian art forms; includes titles such as Art is a Verb and Art is a Voice.
• Eye Spy Series (Children's Books) Series for readers 13+ that introduces India's visual heritage through mind-bending interactions and creative projects, including titles like Eye Spy Indian Art and Eye Spy Indigenous Art.
• un[BOX] Series (Workbook) Workbook on contemporary art for ages 16+ that showcases artwork and ideas from the Partner a Master Art Studio workshop with contributions from top contemporary Indian artists.
• Educator Series (Children's Books) Series providing educators with well-researched published resources by expert voices on art education from across the globe, supporting newer methodologies for teaching and learning art.
• Art1st Films Critically-acclaimed short films bringing together dynamic artists and filmmakers as a sensorial introduction to the lives and minds of Indian visual artists; screened in India and globally.

Quantifiable outcome

• 81+ schools in 18 cities implementing Art1st curriculum
• +3 more outcomes

Named customers12 records

Segments4 records

Ideal customer profiles1 record

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Feature3 records

Partnerships

Twelve partnerships are on record, tiered core, flagship and supporting.

• Conflictorium Museum, AhmedabadcoreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 January 2024Conflictorium partnered with Art1st Foundation for the Creative Educator Practitioner Grant program. The grant supports developing creative pedagogy through a facilitator-to-facilitator model with hybrid certificate course offered to 10 participants.
• Indira Gandhi National Centre for the Arts (IGNCA)flagshipStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 December 2019IGNCA collaborated with Art1st for the Art Education Summit 2019, presenting the summit in partnership with IGNCA and CBSE. The three-day event in New Delhi featured 60 distinguished speakers and over 100 principals and 245 educators.
• Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE)flagshipStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 December 2019CBSE co-presented the Art Education Summit 2019 with Art1st and IGNCA. Art1st's AEP approach aligns with CBSE's mandated Arts Integration Learning approach as per NEP 2020.
• AVID LearningsupportingGTM or Marketing Partner · 1 January 2019AVID Learning collaborated as a collaborator for the Art Education Roundtables 2019, helping bring together diverse voices from arts, cinema, performance, literature, activism, pedagogy, and policy.
• 1AQ Gallery, DelhisupportingGTM or Marketing Partner · 1 January 20191AQ Gallery in Delhi collaborated as a venue partner for AER 2019 roundtables, hosting discussions on art education in the city.
• Gallery Ark, VadodarasupportingGTM or Marketing Partner · 1 January 2019Gallery Ark in Vadodara partnered for AER 2019, hosting roundtable discussions on art education in the city.
• Alliance Française du Bengale, KolkatasupportingGTM or Marketing Partner · 1 January 2019Alliance Française du Bengale in Kolkata hosted AER 2019 roundtable discussions, contributing to the inclusive platform for art education reflection.
• PCCR, GuwahatisupportingGTM or Marketing Partner · 1 January 2019PCCR (unidentified) collaborated for AER 2019 in Guwahati, supporting roundtable discussions on art education.
• Alliance Française de Madras, ChennaisupportingGTM or Marketing Partner · 1 January 2019Alliance Française de Madras in Chennai hosted AER 2019, bringing together voices from education and art sectors.
• The Community Library Project (TCLP)coreStrategic or Co-development PartnerArt1st's Art+Lit program works with TCLP where artist-mentors engage with children from low-income localities in libraries, using Art1st publications as provocations for creative engagement.
• Community Libraries NetworksupportingChannel Partner/ Reseller/ DistributorArt1st provides books free of cost to community libraries across India as part of Art+Lit program, including self-funded not-for-profit libraries and foundations. Partners include AA's Book Nerds, Akshara Foundation, Antar Bharati Balgram, and 40+ others.
• National Gallery of Modern Art (NGMA)supportingStrategic or Co-development PartnerArt1st partnered with KNMA for Abanindranath's House of Stories publication, with Akar Prakar as research partner.

Scale indicators5 records

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights6 records

Broad incumbents

• Byju's: Largest Indian K-12 edtech player offering online learning across subjects with school and parent subscriptions. A broad incumbent with very different scale and digital model; potentially a threat if it expands further into arts and visual learning.
• Kidzee / Zee Learn: India's largest preschool chain operating under Zee Learn with franchise-based delivery of early childhood curriculum. Comparable only loosely — overlap is in the ECE curriculum/segment targeting rather than in arts specialization.
• Cuemath: India-focused K-12 supplemental education platform combining math learning with coding, English, and other subjects through a tutor network. Broad incumbent in Indian K-12 supplementary education, with similar school-partnership GTM but a STEM/core-academic focus rather than arts.
• IFA (India Foundation for the Arts): India's oldest arts philanthropy supporting arts practice, research, and education across disciplines. Functions as a broader ecosystem player funding and convening art-education initiatives, including some that overlap with Art1st's grant and educator development work.

Others

• Pratham Education Foundation: One of India's largest education NGOs working across literacy, numeracy, and digital learning. Operates at vastly larger scale than Art1st but shares the mission-driven K-12 education footprint and government-school reach in India.

Emerging players

• Turning Point Education: India-based emerging player in K-12 enrichment and life-skills curriculum delivered in schools. Comparable go-to-market through private school partnerships and a similar focus on supplementary enrichment rather than core academics.
• Art Bytes: India-based emerging player offering art-based learning content and workshops for schools and children. Early-stage direct overlap with Art1st's curriculum offerings, though with a more digital/online distribution model.

Direct peers

• ThinkArts: Mumbai-based arts education organization that runs programs and festivals for children and young audiences. Comparable to Art1st in targeting young audiences through arts engagement, although ThinkArts is more festival/performance-focused rather than school-curriculum focused.
• Artreach India: India-based art education organization delivering visual and performing arts programs to schools and underserved communities. Directly comparable to Art1st's school-based arts-integrated curriculum model, with similar NGO-style operations and grants-funded community programs.

Regional players

• Aseema NGO: Mumbai-based NGO focused on education for underprivileged children, including arts-integrated learning. Comparable through school-based programs and a mission-driven model, but with broader academic focus rather than art-specialist curriculum.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat4 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

• YouTubeyoutube.com/@art1stindia395
• Facebookfacebook.com/art1stIndia
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/art1st
• Instagraminstagram.com/art1stindia

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles6 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Art1st