Reliance & WebelWest Bengal, striving to project itself as a preferred destination for IT firms, now plans to go up the “Digital Arts” Industry ladder by capitalizing on its vast pool of creative & skilled talent.

The West Bengal government sees the setting up of a state-of-the-art Media & Entertainment academy in the state as the first of a series of measures to turn itself into a hub for creation of digital entertainment content by both local as well as overseas companies. With the intent to provide high quality education in 3D Animation and Visual Effects, the West Bengal Electronics Industry Development Corporation Ltd. (WEBEL), the government-owned nodal IT and electronics industry body, has tied up with Reliance Animation, to create WEBEL – Reliance  Media and Entertainment Academy in Kolkata, in the academic year 2011. West Bengal has traditionally been the hub of creativity and emerging creative talents in the fields of art, sculpture, music, performing arts, writing, photography and visualization on a whole. This initiative is definitely going to provide the youth of West Bengal who aspires to be in the new age technology based creative field of animation and VFX, an opportunity to harness their skills into the booming industry of digital arts.

"West Bengal has a big talent pool in art, media and entertainment that has been recognized repeatedly both at national and international level. Now we want to use this talent for the generation of employment in the state. We already have a huge base of creative professionals. The opening of this academy will add more workforce to the existing talent pool and is obviously an important step towards the creation of appropriate resource to bring media and entertainment industries in the state." said Dr. Debesh Das, Hon’ble Minister of Information Technology, Govt. of West Bengal.

"Animation is certainly going to be a focus area for us in the coming years. We already have a huge base of creative professionals. We believe we have all the requirements to emerge as the animation outsourcing hub," said Webel Managing Director, Tamal Dasgupta.

Ashish SK, CEO Reliance Animation said on this occasion, “West Bengal has always been the epicenter of creative talents in India. The state has produced the finest talents and maestros in every field of creative expression for over the centuries. West Bengal also has a rich tradition of traditional art forms like Chhou dance from Purulia, Tusu, Baul, Tappa and Jhumur in music, the enriched Krishnanagar pottery, patua made dolls and the scroll painters, the dokra, the bhaskars of Burdwan - just to name a few. Most of these fast diminishing art forms can find a new surge of life as original digital content. Keeping that in mind, the core focus of the academy will be to ensure that the emerging creative latent’s in the state from every walk of life are groomed, developed and provided with the best opportunity to channelize their creative expressions into the wondrous world of animation and VFX. India is fast emerging as the prospective global giant in the field of animation, and to be successful, one needs to be prepared in every manner to handle the challenges. The process starts with acquiring the right skill sets. WEBEL – Reliance Media and Entertainment Academy will dedicate its cause to create a talent pool in West Bengal which can contribute to the development of the Animation, VFX, Gaming and Comics (AVGC) Industry in the state and connect West Bengal to the national and global map of AVGC stronghold. We are thankful to the West Bengal IT Ministry for having paved the way for the millions of artistic minds in the state to fuel the growth of this fastest growing sector”.

Reliance Animation, one of the finest Animation studios in the country. will provide the curriculum and will also handle the operational responsibilities while WEBEL will provide the necessary infrastructure for the Academy. The courses offered will be Advanced  Animation Film Making – 3D Process, Advanced 3D Animation Specialization, Advanced Visual Effects in Film Making, Advanced Digital 2D, Pre-production, Maya Master and Post Production techniques.

One of the leading and fastest growing animation studios in India, Reliance Animation, is dedicated to revive the culture of story-telling by characterizing animation in the world of fantasy. The studio has created the finest Indian 3D animated series - Little Krishna. While receiving numerous national and international accolades the series has also been the first Indian IP to be broadcasted on Nickelodeon and have also explored a 360 degree approach towards exploring the IP potential. The series has been distributed in over 30 countries worldwide. To carry forward the legacy, Reliance Animation is now working on animation content, which will surely create new benchmarks for quality in storytelling and execution.

Today Bengal is standing on the threshold of an experience and entertainment economy. It is at the cross roads of an exciting phase that will shape its cultural and social framework forever.