PHOTOS COURTESY MEOW WOLF DESIGNED BY NICOLAS DELGADILLO
MEOW WOLF MILESTONES
The company Meow Wolf started about 14 years ago in Santa Fe, New Mexico. Here is a look at key points in its history. 2008 Meow Wolf is established as a do-it-yourself art collective in Santa Fe, New Mexico. 2011 Meow Wolf opens a project called " The Due Return" at Santa Fe’s Center for Contemporary Arts. 2016 First permanent exhibit, “ House of Eternal Return,” opens in Santa Fe, New Mexico. 2017 Certi cation as a B Corp. is granted after review of policies and actions on a number of metrics. 2019 Meow Wolf grows its sta to 500 and produces seven Community Voices lms highlighting arts groups in Santa Fe. May 2019 Meow Wolf opens “ Kaleidoscape,” an interactive thrill ride at Elitch Gardens Theme and Water Park in Denver, Colorado. February 2021 "Omega Mart" opens in Las Vegas, Nevada. September 2021 "Convergence Station" opens in Denver, Colorado. 2021 Meow Wolf’s three permanent exhibits nish the year with a combined 2 million-plus visitors. May 2022 Meow Wolf announces plans to open exhibits in Grapevine and Houston. 2023 Grapevine location will open. 2024 Houston location will open.
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World of Play. “We are really big fans of Meow Wolf and the concept and what they bring to the community,” said Trudy Cresswell, who is the director of mar- keting and business development for Grapevine Mills. “By collaborat- ing with them, we’re able to further enhance the unique dynamic enter- tainment portfolio that we have here at Grapevine Mills.” In addition, Cresswell said Meow Wolf will bring in new customers or even those who have not been to the mall in a while, which will bene t existing entertainment experiences. “Through their discovery of Meow Wolf, they’re going to uncover addi- tional interactive experiences that we have,” Cresswell said. “We have this robust wealth of family-oriented entertainment options, and Meow Wolf is gonna bring in this brand new audience for the entire grouping of our entertainment options.” As far as the decision to open two locations in Texas, Sheehan said Meow Wolf has always had a “part- nership and kinship” with Texas, as many of its artists are from the state. “We get a lot of intermingling between our states, and there’s a lot of cool, art-driven culture in Texas that we’re excited to … hopefully con- tribute to,” Sheehan said. Holt said the addition of Meow Wolf to Grapevine Mills is just another example of how the city “has had a real focus on unique experiences.” “We are acutely aware as a pre- mium, North Texas destination that people want more than just food or shopping—they want an experience,” Holt said. Darlene Freed, Grapevine City Council mayor pro tem and Place 4 representative, said Meow Wolf will “be a great thing for employment” throughout the city. She noted that another important aspect of Meow Wolf coming to the
“Fast forward to today, and we have grown that little art collective into a pioneer of the immersive arts and entertainment industry with a mis- sion to build community through art,” King said. All of Meow Wolf’s locations—exist- ing and upcoming—are open for all ages, Sinski said. Tickets prices vary at its existing locations from $35 to $55. Sinski said admission fees for the Grapevine Mills location are not yet known. As the company expands its reach, Meow Wolf CEO Jose Tolosa said in the release that Texas “holds the keys” to Meow Wolf’s next chapter. “Opening a permanent exhibition in the largest and one of the most diverse states in the country has been on Meow Wolf’s radar for years, and we are excited to be formally under- way,” Tolosa said in the release. “The opportunities this state has presented have already become the touchstones of a vibrant, arts-centric portal of Aside from King’s connection to the mall, Dale Sheehan, Meow Wolf’s executive creative director, said Grapevine Mills was chosen because it “holds no bounds to what” the com- pany wants to do. It is also the com- pany’s rst opening in a mall, he said. “Malls, in general, are obviously under a huge transition right now and have a lot of potential to hopefully not just become wastelands that are vacant or demolished, but actually become something that they weren’t before—something the community wants and needs now,” Sheehan said. Sinski said another reason the company chose Grapevine Mills is because it already includes interac- tive attractions, such as Legoland Discovery Center, Sea Life Grapevine Aquarium, Round One Entertain- ment, Fieldhouse USA and Peppa Pig imaginative creativity.” Why Grapevine Mills?
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rst community,” said King, an Arling- ton native. Meow Wolf will take over the former location of Bed, Bath & Beyond inside the mall, lling a 40,340-square-foot space, according to the Texas Depart- ment of Licensing and Regulation. The exhibit is slated to open some- time in 2023, with an exact month not known yet, said Jennifer Sinski of Giant Noise, which handles public relations for Meow Wolf. “This is going to be yet another really unique entertainment des- tination for visitors from all over the world,” said Larry Holt, city of Grapevine director of economic development. At its core, Meow Wolf is an arts and entertainment company that focuses on creating immersive and interactive experiences that “transport” visitors into stories and exploration, accord- ing to its website. The company works with local artists and its full-time art- ists on sta to create interactive and diverse exhibits. Meow Wolf began in 2008 as an informal, do-it-yourself aggregate of Santa Fe artists, the website states. Its name came during the rst meeting with the collective of artists, where all present put two words into a hat. Then, two words were randomly cho- sen from the hat: “meow” and “wolf.” Each location has a di erent theme and a di erent look. Meow Wolf opened its rst permanent art exhibi- tion in 2016 in Santa Fe called “House of Eternal Sun,” according to the web- site. It opened permanent locations in Las Vegas in February 2021 and Den- ver in September 2021. The Las Vegas location is called “Omega Mart,” while the Denver location is referred to as “Convergence Station.” Those three locations combined logged more than 2 million visitors last year, according to the company.
SOURCE: MEOW WOLF COMMUNITY IMPACT NEWSPAPER
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COMMUNITY IMPACT NEWSPAPER • COMMUNITYIMPACT.COM
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