About Us
Garner Holt Education through Imagination
Inspired by the work of Garner Holt Productions Inc., the world's leading manufacturer of theme park animatronics, Garner Holt Education through Imagination is a team of educators and industry professionals dedicated to producing world-class educational programs and resources to provide students with a strong foundation in creativity, innovation, technology and entrepreneurship to keep pace with our nation’s need to create students who are college and career ready in the areas of science, technology, engineering, arts, and math. We believe students inspired through this educational approach are poised to change the world for good.
For more information about Garner Holt Productions, Inc., please visit www.garnerholt.com
ABOUT GARNER HOLT
Garner's Story
My company and I have literally grown up together. I founded Garner Holt Productions in 1977, when I was still in high school. I’ve gone from my parents’ garage to a giant 120,000 square foot production facility, studio and mockup space where I operate today with the help of nearly a hundred talented employees creating theme park animatronics that can be found in 36 countries on six continents.
GHP is my playground, my pride and joy. It's a combination of a cutting-edge technology workshop and an artistic inventor's lab. As a result, being here is different from any other work environment. We employ the most diverse, unique and talented team in the world. These artisans and technicians represent nearly 50 different careers all working together under one roof! Creating animatronics is a bit like creating gigantic toys, and every day presents a new and exciting problem for us to solve. We’ve built nearly 500 Chuck E. Cheese animatronic shows for restaurants all over the planet. We were the first outside company to create an animatronic character for a classic Disney attractions and we now have nearly 500 figures in Disney parks throughout the world. In our more than four decades of work, we’ve built more animatronics and other unusual and amazing creations than any organization on the planet.
I wholeheartedly believe that much of my company’s success is attributed to my shop classes in high school and the teachers who recognized my interests, talents and passions. These teachers who provided me with the freedom and flexibility to learn in the way that I learned best, and allowed me to learn through real-world problems and projects that interested me; projects that fostered my creativity and imagination. This is the reason we’ve created Education through Imagination, an education company working to support the STEAM education and career exploration initiatives of districts, schools and classrooms.
I know we’ll continue to bring smiles, thrills, scares, and wonder to theme park guests worldwide. Now, we’re excited to work alongside educators with a goal of helping students discover their own interests, talents and passions through hands-on, real-world learning experiences. For me, it's a dream come true.
-Garner L. Holt
Garner with his latest creation, the world's most expressive animatronic human head!