7 artists pulled “Meow Wolf” out of a hat and built a $150M empire that attracts more people than the MoMa. Underwhelmed with most art galleries, they set out to make one that didn’t look like other art galleries. It started in a rented warehouse space, where they built installations from trash. Then they filled it with Punk shows, weird art, and gave it a name to match.
7 years later, George R.R. Martin (yes, Game of Thrones) invested $3.5 million to buy an old bowling alley. They used the money and space to open a new concept: The House of Eternal Return. They needed the money, and the space, but having one of the world’s best storytellers attached to an exhibit based on immersing guests in a story sure helped.
135 sculptors, painters, and tech wizards worked for months (without pay in many cases) to open it. Those artists formed the “inner circle” and entered the “Artist Bonus Pool” to share in potential future profits. The doors opened in March 2016. They projected 100,000 visitors. 400,000 came out year one.
By 2017 they generated $9 million in revenue from a single location. In 2023, it grew to 3 million annual visitors across 4 locations and revenue hit an estimated $150 million-plus. They raised $192 million in funding and created 1,200+ jobs. Now Meow Wolf now has 5 permanent locations:
- Santa Fe (House of Eternal Return)
- Las Vegas (Omega Mart)
- Denver (Convergence Station)
- Grapevine TX (The Real Unreal)
- Houston (Radio Tave)
But they’re not done. (why would they be?)
LA opens in 2026, where they will take over a movie theater. They also announced NYC this year, to be located at Pier 17.
Meow Wolf works, in part, because it took a somewhat passive model of art galleries and turned it into an active experience. The winding hallways, hidden passages, and mysteries completely embed them into art and narrative. It feels like going to another dimension. The art elevates a sensory experience.
Every location includes a mysterious narrative for guests to solve, if they care for puzzles. You could spend hours trying to solve it. OR you could go in for 30 min to glance around. And every time you go, you will discover something you missed the time before, which drives repeat business. Plus, if two people go at 4:00 on Thursday, they will come out telling different stories.
The multi-faceted approach attracts all kinds of people:
Artists go. Tourists go. Families go. Influencers go.
Where else will you find punk kids, a kindergarten class, the Dungeons & Dragons crowd, the football team, and the cheerleaders. You can’t walk through one without watching people of all ages posting incredible pictures to Instagram.
The experience economy rewards businesses that create shareable, memorable, participatory moments.
Meow Wolf cracked the code.
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