Meow Wolf laid off 75 workers Thursday as part of a “strategic restructuring” that will slash its overall workforce by 8%, the immersive entertainment company said., including 20% of its central workforce.
Officials at Meow Wolf said that among the 60 full-time — or 94, counting part time — employees in Denver, six have ben laid off, or about 10% of the local staff.
Based in Santa Fe, Meow Wolf runs Convergence Station just west of downtown Denver at 1338 1st St., which features surreal, interactive sculptures and rooms crafted by local and national artists. The Denver location opened in 2021 and has grappled with worker issues at times — with the most recent troubles arriving in April, when 165 employees were laid off company-wide, including 50 in Denver.
The current layoffs, which arrive during the height of the holidays, will affect non-exhibition employees, or people who work outside the elaborate installations. Layoffs are effective immediately, the company said.
“This includes all levels … including senior leadership roles,” wrote Kati Murphy, vice president of public relations and communications, in a statement. “These changes were made with great care and we are mindful of their impact on our team and the broader community.”
Murphy said the company would only answer questions via email. Employees earlier this year complained that previous layoff news had leaked via social media before managers could tell employees about it. Some current and former employees told The Denver Post at the time that they felt the company lacked accountability when it came to workplace issues.
Organizers with the union, the Meow Wolf Workers Collective, weren’t immediately available for comment, but according to a , employees had been asked to voluntarily resign weeks earlier. That prompted union officials to challenge the company’s CEO, Jose Tolosa, and its board of directors on the financial health of the company and employees’ rights. They called the timing of the layoffs “especially despicable.”
Specific requests from the union include reducing the number of executive-level positions at the company, normalizing union relations, using more internal employees instead of contractors, and hiring more people for “chronically understaffed” exhibitions where the guests’ well-being is affected by areas that are “unsafe and poorly maintained.”
“We have been working closely with MWWC since November and have had numerous discussions about how we can best partner to reduce the impact on employees,” according to an email from the company. “We appreciate Union’s leadership participation and involvement in this difficult process.”
In April, union officials said they believed the company was , which required Meow Wolf to follow a specific process that prevents day-to-day operations from changing during periods of negotiation.
Meow Wolf has expanded significantly since the pandemic, but its employee count has wavered at times. In 2020 the company cited devastating pandemic-era losses in cutting roughly half of its workers — or 201 employees — even as it was in the final stages of opening new attractions in Denver and Las Vegas. (The company knew those cuts were coming well before pandemic lockdowns, .)
The company in September opened a kiosk-style gift shop at Denver International Airport, its large-scale Radio Tave location in Houston on Oct. 31, and another large-scale exhibition, Meow Wolf Grapevine outside Dallas, in 2023. It opened a Las Vegas location in 2021 and plans to open another in Los Angeles — which will be — but did not provide a date.
“Our attendance will be below what we projected for the year, and softness has been seen in the industry generally,” the company told The Denver Post. Officials declined a request for attendance numbers and ticket sales at the Denver location.
“This moment represents both a difficult transition and an opportunity to refocus Meow Wolf’s future strategy,” Murphy wrote in her statement. “We are deeply grateful to all the individuals who are departing for their contributions to Meow Wolf. Their passion, creativity, and dedication have shaped the company’s growth and its standing as a leader in the immersive arts.”
An Action Network petition requesting that Tolosa to resign, sponsored by the union, has , . It’s headlined “Vote of No Confidence.”
“The legacy of Meow Wolf and its fans deserve better,” Meow Wolf’s union leaders said in a . “This is a shout in the storm of unrestrained capitalist nonsense. We can do this a different way.”
