Meow Wolf layoffs impact 50 Denver employees

Popular interactive art gallery Meow Wolf announced layoffs in a downsizing move – including at its Denver Convergence Station location.

Meow Wolf’s CEO Jose Tolosa announced this week the company is cutting expenses by 10% and will lay off 165 workers across its locations nationwide.

About 50 workers in Denver will be affected, Meow Wolf spokesperson Ru Johnson confirmed.

Low visitation was a reason behind the cost-cutting measures, said another Meow Wolf spokesperson Erin Barnes.

Meow Wolf still plans to expand to Houston and is shrinking to grow more sustainably, according to the company.

“When we opened our first exhibitions, we were inventing an operating model from scratch,” Tolusa said.

“Over the past three years, we’ve developed a better understanding of our guests and what we need to staff and support our exhibitions in order to make the most of the growth opportunities ahead, including our Houston location that opens later this year,” he added.

Company executives will reduce their wages by 10% for the rest of the year and cut back on travel costs, professional services and software contracts.

Executives also decided to close the New York City office and abandon plans to open another office in Los Angeles.

Meow Wolf was founded in 2008 in Santa Fe, N.M. offering an interactive and multimedia gallery experience built by artists.

It came to Denver in 2021 after a long anticipation, opening right next to the Denver Broncos' home  Empower Field at Mile High in 2021 at a time when the metro area’s art scene needed a boost from being heavily impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic.

Meow Wolf provided a rare-kind of a job within the art industry: one with full-time hours and benefits.

The company hired 110 Colorado-based artists to design and build 79 multimedia installations within its 90,000-square-foot space.

Denver's Meow Wolf does have unionized workers through the Meow Wolf Workers Collective. Meow Wolf could not confirm how many unionized workers were affected. The union did not respond for comment by press time.

The layoffs in Denver affected several teams including creative operators, IT and corporate, Johnson said.

Editor's Note: This story initially stated Meow Wolf's visitation numbers wasn't a factor contributing to layoffs based on a spokesperson's comment. Another company representative said later, after publication, that lower visitation was a key part of Meow Wolf's decision.