Meow Wolf announces permanent exhibitions in Texas

Meow Wolf has announced it will open two new permanent exhibitions in Texas. 

The U.S.-based arts and entertainment company is known for its immersive and interactive experiences aimed at transporting audiences of all ages into fantastic realms of story and exploration.

The exhibitions will open in Grapevine in 2023 and in Houston in 2024. The company refers to these locations as "portals", a reference familiar to those who have visited their existing locations in Santa Fe, Las Vegas, and Denver.

"The Meow Wolf story universe is expanding, and Texas holds the keys to our next chapters," said Jose Tolosa, CEO of Meow Wolf, in a news release. "Opening a permanent exhibition in the largest and one of the most diverse states in the country has been on Meow Wolf’s radar for years, and we are excited to be formally underway. The opportunities this state has presented have already become the touchstones of a vibrant, arts-centric portal of imaginative creativity."

The Grapevine exhibition will be located in Grapevine Mills, located within the Dallas-Fort Worth metroplex. The exhibit name will be announced at a later date.

The Houston exhibition will be located in the Fifth Ward of Houston and slated to open in 2024, with The Deal Co as development partners. A historical district with a long history of diverse communities dating back to the late 1800s, the Fifth Ward has been transformed into an arts and cultural destination in recent years, being designated a cultural district by the state of Texas in 2020.

Meow Wolf says opening its next "portals" in Texas was based on a number of criteria including diversity, with Houston ranked as the #1 most diverse city in America. 

The company says the Texas locations have been in the works for over two years, motivated by the large, diverse populations, the love of a mall experience leading them to Grapevine, and the emphasis on the arts in Houston. 

Meow Wolf plans to work with hundreds of artists, both local to Texas and from their headquarters in Santa Fe, New Mexico, to create the next immersive experiences. It says it will begin actively recruiting artists and staff sometime this summer.

The company encourages those interested in the hiring process to follow Meow Wolf channels: @meow__wolf on Instagram, @MeowWolf on Twitter, and https://meowwolf.com/careers or to visit and sign up at texasportals.com.

This won't be Meow Wolf's first foray into Texas. The company had a permit exhibition in Austin for SXSW in March 2022.