The Meow Wolf Foundation, a 501(c)3 nonprofit organization, has announced its inaugural Community Grant awardees, which include nine Texas-based organizations.
While Meow Wolf is a Public Benefit Corporation (B Corp) that focuses both on social impact and profit, in 2022 it established The Meow Wolf Foundation as a private charitable foundation. According to the foundation’s webpage, it supports organizations that provide increased access to arts education and training, utilizes arts as a tool to improve mental and emotional well-being, and conduct research and projects focusing on art and creativity as tools to develop innovative solutions.
In a press release, Jose Tolosa, Meow Wolf CEO and board chair of the Meow Wolf Foundation, stated, “As a company founded by artists, that employs artists, and celebrates the inner creative in everyone, Meow Wolf understands firsthand how creativity, imagination, and play can truly transform lives. Meow Wolf launched the Meow Wolf Foundation to deepen our commitment to communities and help amplify the critical work of those using art and creativity to change lives and build thriving creative communities.”
Julie Heinrich, Chief Impact Officer and head of the Meow Wolf Foundation, added, “Art and creativity has too often been seen as a nice-to-have, instead of a must-have. We want to change this conversation. Art and culture organizations typically receive the least amount of philanthropic giving nationally and we think there’s a tremendous opportunity to use art and creativity to heal and transform lives.”
In its inaugural year, the Community Grant program donated a total of $600,000 to 63 organizations in areas where Meow Wolf currently has (or is developing) locations: New Mexico, Colorado, Nevada, and Texas. With Meow Wolf’s The Real Unreal opening earlier this year in Grapevine and a Houston location scheduled to open next summer, the Texas locations are the newest venues.
Exhibition Detail of Meow Wolf Grapevine’s “The Real Unreal,” Photo by Jess Gallo. Photo Courtesy of Meow-Wolf.
The Texas grant recipients include Cara Mia Theatre, Dallas Art Therapy, Spark! Dallas, Forest Forward, House of Shine, Resource Center, the Fifth Ward Community Redevelopment Corporation, The Orange Show Center for Visionary Art, and Project Row Houses.
Harrison Guy, Director of Arts & Culture for the Fifth Ward Cultural Arts District and graffiti artist Mario Enrique Figueroa Jr., known as GONZO247, hold a stencil used to spray paint the Meow Wolf logo on a brick wall.
About receiving the grant, Harrison Guy, Director of Arts & Culture for Fifth Ward Community Redevelopment Corporation, remarked, “We are so excited to see The Meow Wolf Foundation invest in the 5th Ward community. This award will help us to continue our mission of creating an art rich community that celebrates the musical legacy of the 5th Ward with the support of The Mini-Music Museum.” Meow Wolf’s Houston location is set to debut in the Fifth Ward in 2024.
See the full list of grantees below.
516 Arts – Fulcrum Fund
Access Gallery
ArtWalk Santa Fe
Axle Projects
Cara Mia Theatre
Children’s Hospital Colorado Foundation
City of the World
Cleo Parker Robinson Dance
Colectiva
Colorado Business Committee for the Arts
Creative Santa Fe
Dallas Art Therapy
Denver Art Society
Denver’s Art District on Santa Fe
Discovery Children’s Museum
Downtown Aurora Visual Arts
Earthseed Black Arts Alliance
Fifth Ward Community Redevelopment Corporation (5th Ward Cultural Arts District)
Film Prize Foundation
Forest Forward
House of Shine
Indigenous Ways
IndigenousAF (IAF Inc.)
Keres Learning Center
Keshet Dance Company
La Semilla Food Center
Las Vegas Indian Center
Latino Cultural Arts Center
Left of Center Art Gallery
Make Santa Fe
Marjorie Barrick Museum of Art
Moving Arts Española
Museo de Las Américas
Native Realities
Nevada School for the Arts
New Mexico School for the Arts – Art Institute
Obodo Collective
Opportunity Village
The Orange Show Center for Visionary Art
Parallel Studios, Inc.
Paseo Project
Poeh Cultural Center
Project Row Houses
RedLine Contemporary Art Center
Resource Center
Reunity Resources
Sacred Voices
Santa Fe Portalfest
Solidarity Fridge
Spark! Dallas
Su Teatro
Sun Valley Kitchen + Community Center
Sun Valley Youth Center
Teatro Paraguas
Tewa Women United
The Center
The Neon Museum
Think 360 Arts for Learning
Tierra Nueva Counseling Center
University of New Mexico Foundation (UNM Children’s Psychiatric Center)
Vital Spaces
Working Classroom
Zuni Youth Enrichment Project
