According to Crizac Global managing director, Christopher Nagle, the agreement with ACG will allow the company to “become actively involved” in the Chinese partner’s business strategy and produce specialist consumer content.

As part of the partnership, Nagle will become chief exploration officer of ACG, while the arts education company will also utilise the Crizac Global platform to “manage and expand” its study abroad segment.

Through the agreement, Crizac Global will “actively support the international business development of a large private education group”, which Nagle will lead as CXO.

“The agreement also includes production of consumer content for ACG’s media platform. 直播 , or live streaming is uniquely large in the Chinese digital media landscape and I do not know of any other B2B players who are active in this domain,” he told The PIE.

The education consumer content will be distributed through ACG’s media platform business in China.

“The partnership is important because it gives us a huge platform to build on in China, while also presenting great opportunities to expand our reach in creative education globally,” Nagle noted, adding that few, if any, large B2B players recruit to China as a study destination.

“For ACG, Crizac Global will provide crucial access and support as they expand into global markets where they are not currently present. Crizac Global has established itself across South Asia and Africa, but only entered China in 2023, so to launch this partnership so early in our journey is very encouraging for us,” he explained.

There is “important synergy” between the two companies, as Crizac Global seeks to establish itself in China where ACG is dominant, and vice versa, he said.

“ACG is aiming to build a global network of creative education schools”

ACG, which is listed on US stock exchange Nasdaq as ATA Creativity Global, intends to acquire creative schools abroad to its this network, he continued.

“In terms of achievement, we hope to establish ACG as a dominant provider of creative education globally, and establish Crizac Global as the admissions platform of choice for Chinese students wanting to study creative education abroad or non-Chinese students wanting to study creative education in China,” he said.

“ACG is aiming to build a global network of creative education schools, where students can pursue a course, or courses, at their centres in multiple countries. A Chinese fashion student might start in China and move to an ACG centre in Italy, which is a global fashion centre; whereas an Italian fashion student could start in Italy and move to China, which is the world’s largest luxury consumer market.”