Founder Gavin Dell cheeses beside the Hollywood Animation Academy sign. | Photo by Hollywood Animation Academy

Hollywood Animation Academy is the first specialty school for animation in the US — and it’s here in Kansas City. It's the luck of the draw.

City Editor Charmaine sat with faculty to discuss their vision for the academy and what its founding means for KC’s film + animation industry.

Level One: Getting Started

Gavin Dell — an Overland Park native with 30 years of animation experience — is the founder of this brand new, two-year intensive. His long list of credits include "The Simpsons," "Pirates of the Caribbean," "X-Men," and "Gears of War 2." Gavin said he’d been planning to open a school and come back to KC for a while.

“I wanted to be in Kansas City — I love Kansas City. On top of it, every time I would come back I would see there was nothing like this here in the Midwest,” Gavin said.

“All of a sudden, COVID happened and I could work remotely, and I was working on a couple of different shows at the time. I was like ‘Let’s go! Let’s try this! Let’s make it happen!’ And I made it happen.”

His first choice for the school’s location was Laugh-O-Gram Studio in midtown KCMO, Walt Disney’s old studio. Since the building is being made into a museum, Hollywood Animation Academy instead found its home at 1740 W. 92nd St., on the third floor of the Centriq Training building.

After Gavin worked through grueling accreditation paperwork, perfected the course layout, and canvassed local high schools, Hollywood Animation Academy received its first class in January 2023 — the starting seven.

Level Two: Courses + Career Development

Courses are designed to holistically prepare students for animation jobs minus fluffy coursework, similar to a trade school.

In four semesters, students learn how to use design programs, perfect workplace practices, build their portfolios, and practice pitching.

“We’re trying to ... refine their process so their first job experience hopefully will be, ‘Gosh that was so much like my education,’” said Jason Lethcoe. He’s a Hollywood Animation Academy faculty member who helped animate the 1989 “The Little Mermaid,” among other impressive credits.

So that students get the most out of the intensive, Gavin keeps the teacher-to-student ratio small. The upcoming fall semester is already maxed out at 14 students — seven per cohort.

A student animates a Batman figure. *So focused!* | Photo by Hollywood Animation Academy

He also curates coursework so students are trained to do the highest-paid + most-hired animation positions, and stay competitive against the threat of artificial intelligence.

“Real animators can bank for a while on their jobs being safe because the art of acting, emotion, and giving the soul to a character can’t be done by AI yet. These are the bread and butter of the film industry. Movies like Sony's “Across the Spider-verse” are so inventive that it takes teams of brilliant artists working together to develop the ideas and the look,” Gavin said.

“Even if AI takes away some of the work, animators have so much work [that animation] is still forecast to have 15% job growth over the next 10 years.”

So what kind of students is Hollywood Animation Academy designed for? Passionate, skilled artists of all ages with a strong work ethic.

“Passion [should] fuel them to put in a full day of work doing this … If you’re going to go apply to the big leagues, you need to be willing to put in at least an eight hour day if not more to get yourself there,” Gavin said.

Level Three: The Future of Animation in KC

Gavin and Jason aim to demystify the industry by building an animation pipeline.

“There are some conversations I’ve been having with folks back in LA, the idea being to create a mini pipeline to studios for certain projects so students can get their first chance,” said Jason.

They are also working with the Kansas City Film Office to build the film + animation industry here in KC.

“We’ve talked to a lot of people at the KC Film Office about participating in whatever way we can to help boost Kansas City. But [studios] need a talent pool,” Gavin said.

“Inevitably where the talent is, studios pop up,” Jason added.

Closing that talent gap is the school's ultimate mission.

Hollywood Animation Academy is a private academy, so FAFSA is not currently accepted, but Education Savings Accounts are. Faculty said they are also working to accept GI Bills in the future and hope for partnerships with local organizations so they can provide scholarships.