Meow Wolf, a immersive art company based in Santa Fe, New Mexico, has plans to open its second official location in Las Vegas. Where museums lack in interactivity, this art collective excels. Not only can the environment be explored by sight but by touch and sound, too.

By combining the minds of architects, sculptors, painters, photographers, video producers, musicians, audio engineers, writers and performance artists, this collective creates a space in which one can choose their own adventure in a dreamlike world.

Meow Wolf, an immersive art collective, plans to open in 2020 in Area 15, near the Las Vegas strip.

Meow Wolf plans to open in the Area 15, a retail and entertainment complex near The Strip. Both are slated to open in 2020. Photo: Andrea Heerdt

Although Meow Wolf is a large, internationally recognized art company with over 400 employees, its leaders say they want to stay relevant to the local community in Las Vegas. They’re in the process of collaborating with over 200 Southern Nevada artists, both established and emerging, giving them a platform next to the international artists the group works with.

At an Oct. 10 community conversation at the Marjorie Barrick Museum of Art, Danika Padilla, senior director of social impact for Meow Wolf, talked about the group’s plans for connecting with Las Vegans. She said Meow Wolf plans to donate tickets to nonprofits, create jobs, and invest in solar energy to power the facility.

Although there is no official opening date yet, Padilla said Meow Wolf will be located inside Area 15, a 200,000-square-foot retail space located just west of the Las Vegas Strip. Both Meow Wolf and Area 15 have set a goal to open early in 2020.

At this time, the art collective is still focused on receiving more feedback from the community. Meow Wolf is in the process of creating more discussion sessions with locals, making an advisory committee and learning from local groups such as the Las Vegas Paiute Tribe, the Las Vegas Arts District and the Smith Center about how Meow Wolf can best serve the Las Vegas population.

To keep up on news and events, visit Meow Wolf Las Vegas. 

Cover photo: Creative Commons. 

Posted by Andrea Heerdt

Andrea Heerdt cut her teeth as an arts and music writer while she was still a journalism student at the University of Nevada, Reno. She graduated in 2018 and moved back to her native Las Vegas, where she's getting to know the art community.

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