To the outside, Meow Wolf appears to be a mecca for artists.
But in April 2024 the company announced layoffs of over 165 people, about 10% of their staff. It’s not just the reductions, but deeper underlying issues that made Joanna express her concerns in a LinkedIn post, ahead of her planned and deliberate leave at the end of the year.
Unsurprisingly, the post made circles, as many others fueled by the sentiment of ongoing uncertainty and a wider creative industry crisis, that we’re seeing since late 2022.
To me, the truly interesting thing is the tension between creative spirit, or a slightly tamed version of it which you’ll see in creative studios and… the corporate world.
Making wild, groundbreaking, innovative art/experiences/products requires things like free time in the day to get lost in ideas, time and money to do things that inspire you, ways to feel alive in your body, safety and security to take risks, a clear understanding of the 'why' of what you're doing, trust in and from your collaborators, and a regular infusion of the unexpected.
To succeed in a capitalist system requires productivity, efficiency, rapid expansion, measurable and repeatable success, and a top-down hierarchy.
Why and how has it happened that a company whose core value proposition revolves around the wild and raw punk creative energy, has become a place that failed it’s artists?
Speaking about my experience is to acknowledge the ways Meow Wolf has failed its lifeblood: its artists, creatives, and on-the-ground creative operators.
More broadly, what are the conditions under which creativity can thrive in a late-stage capitalism corporate environment? Can it even be sustained there?
As a creative industry veteran, I know both first-hand — the creative side and the business side of things. To me, the baseline has always been really more about the craft, than art.
As creative professionals we’re paid to deliver, and that takes discipline. To anyone working on the commercial side of things long enough, it’s clear it ain’t a fiesta in the vibes of Burning Man. It’s a shipping business.
One of the remarkable (and ruthless) threads of capitalism is that it’s a system well capable of devouring its own opponents and countercultures.
Is it more of a particular Meow’s culture and leadership failure? Or, perhaps the kind of a Mecca, that Moew was supposed to be, is poised to fail by design?
Is it inevitable that when a company scales from tens to hundreds and above thousands, the hierarchy with disproportionate earnings disparity has to emerge?
And what if we applied creativity not just to the result of our work, but the very way in which we buid and lead our companies?
I feel the need to say a few things that have been on my mind in the hopes that Meow Wolf, and other companies whose success rests on the work of creatives, do the hard work of applying creativity to not just their product but also the internal workings of the company.
All these questions are exactly what made me reach out to Joanna and have an open conversation about the reality of creativity under the corporate realms.
Enjoy.
Stay prolific and till the next one.
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