GeeGuides Begins Launch into Schools;
May Add More Modules Soon

GeeGuides LLC (Durango, Col.), a company that offers a new interactive art education tool, began selling into schools this past summer after almost 18 months of product development.

“It’s a unique teaching approach that uses high-quality animation and engages children emotionally,” GeeGuides CEO Eric Guaglione told EER. “We feel strongly about art education and don’t think it’s a component taught in schools as much as we would like.”

Developed by professionals from the animation and audio industries, GeeGuides created geeART16, an interactive art education system designed to provide children with the tools necessary to understand, interpret, enjoy, and create art.
The hands-on, Web-based curriculum is aligned to standards and targets students from the second grade up through middle school. geeART16 has 16 lesson modules that include cross-curricular connections, online activities, self-assessment challenges, and teacher lesson plans. It comes with Corel Painter Essentials 3, a digital painting application that gives users the experience of working with a variety of art media.

Guaglione said the company primarily targets schools and home schools, although the product will become more widely available to consumers in the near future.

“We’re developing relationships with various locations and will have a box product program available later this month,” Guaglione said. “We are going to be geared toward placing it in museums and other art retailers.”

He also said more modules will be added, likely next year, as many customers have expressed the desire for more than 16.

GeeGuides is sold through the company’s two-person national sales force, one for the Eastern portion of the U.S. and the other for the West. The company has fewer than 50 full-time employees.

Currently, GeeGuides advertises one license for $129 and a purchase of two to 29 licenses runs $99 each. Thirty licenses are $1,500 and 160 would cost $3,995.

However, Guaglione said the company has been very flexible with pricing in the early going as they continue to get feedback from customers on what is the best way to implement the product for various schools. “We are revisiting our pricing structure,” Guaglione said.

Guaglione declined to disclose any revenue figures or how many schools or students are currently using the product. GeeGuides is a private company funded by investors.