$3M BOWLING ALLEY
In Sante Fe NM, Meow Wolf, a collective of interdisciplinary artists, turned “do it yourself” into “let’s pay ourselves”.
SANTE FE, NM
Sante Fe is an anamoly in the US, where tradition and creativity collide. Perhaps the longest standing example of this collision is the architectural codes that limit the kinds of materials and colors used in construction. Another is “Canyon Road” where galleries and studios sell a mix of contemporary fine art and traditional hand crafts.
The density of art and culture has made Sante Fe a wonderland for creativity, yet the traditions and structured business left many young creators feeling impotent. As artist Caity Kennedy put it years later:
“The gallery art world is a bunch of market-ey bullshit.”
Enter Meow Wolf, a collective of Sante Fe artists formed in 2008 looking to create alternative opportunities for local art and music. The name “Meow Wolf” was chosen from random words pulled from a hat. Like many decisions from the collective, the name “Meow Wolf’ was not especially championed by any member but seemed to fit the weird and nebulous criteria needed to reach consensus.
The ongoing harmony between chaos and structure would be the thread that flows through Meow Wolf’s story for the next dozen years as it grew into bigger projects.
The first big project was taking over a store front in Sante Fe where 10 artists lived together and created everyday. All kinds of media - music, painting, sculpture, film and performance - overlapped and piled on top of each other. Conflict was unavoidable, but so was collaboration.
”We did this for years… there was 10 of us living in one tiny room because of the all of the money was going to the art.”
The quest for “bigger” led to an incredible project at the Center for Contemporary Art, where Meow Wolf built an entire ship in the exhibition space. Titled “Due Return” was a 70-foot long ship with two levels, and filled with rooms and objects suggesting details of implied fictional inhabitants' lives. The project received incredible praise across the nation. “Due Return” was an incredible catalyst for Meow Wolf to prove itself as a collective on a project that could never be finished by any one person.
Of course the success was not without burn out. Despite having its biggest budget yet, and additional fundraising, the artists felt underpaid and over worked. Several members of Meow Wolf left after “Due Return”.
The desire to be a better organization required more structure, but how could a rag-tag and often anti-authoritarian collective retain their DIY ethos and democratic origins? A management structure had to be created so that frustrations could be avoided or at least solved. Everyone was tired of being a starving artist, yet everyone had different definitions of selling out. The process required conciliations, personal apologies, exits of founding members and welcoming of new entrants.
After the hard conversations, Meow Wolf was positioned to consider its magnum opus: a project so big that everyone could be given more creative territory, so well managed that everyone could be work in harmony, and so well financed that everyone could be paid their share.
What comes after a ship? A house. Or specifically a bowling alley with a house inside it. Meow Wolf began to sketch out the blueprint for “House of Eternal Return”. The project required massive fundraising, and the bowling alley itself was purchased, renovated between $2.7 - $3 million by Game of Thrones writer, George R.R. Martin who leased the building back to Meow Wolf.
“House of Eternal Return” attracted nearly 500,000 visitors and $8.8 million in revenues in 2017. The massive success meant expansion to new markets. To fund its growth, Meow Wolf sold between $1.32 - $1.5 million of shares through WeFunder, with the plan to continue expanding through new experiences in Denver, Las Vegas, DC, Phoenix and beyond. This notion that growth is “selling out” is disproven by Meow Wolf’s desire for their to be more art available, and more artists to have work.
One of the founding members and now CEO, Vince Kadlubek explains the need to grow:
“Creativity’s not something we should feel sorry for. It’s something we should invest in because it’s going to return on that investment.”
KICKSTARTER VID
PITCH VID
DOCUMENTARY TRAILER
DISCUSSION
Growth can change things. To do something of a certain scale might mean revisiting your values, redefining your audience, and involving more people.
Q: How big do you want your organization to get? How many people?
Meow Wolf has always had a precarious balance between chaos and order. The founders wanted as little structure as possible, and as much individual freedom as possible, but they found there was more opportunity for artistic expression with careful structuring.
Q: What organizational structure is right for your business? How do you know?