We Have Work to Do

Our hearts are heavy thinking about George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, Tony McDade, Ahmaud Arbery, Oluwatoyin Salau, Robert Fuller, Malcolm Harsch, Rayshard Brooks, and the countless other innocent Black community members who have been murdered and taken from us far too soon. 

 

Meow Wolf applauds the protesters who are demanding action and change. We cheer you on, are with you in person and in solidarity, and pledge that our words will be backed by actions to transform our corporate culture from one that is complicit to one that strives to be wholly anti-racist.

Meow Wolf firmly believes Black lives matter. We support the Black Lives Matter movement wholeheartedly. We recognize our complicity in systems of oppression, racism, and white supremacy, and admit our past silence was complicity. We understand these are longstanding systems and structures that continue to impact all of us – working for the benefit of some and working against others. 

We also understand we need to take steps to honor our Indigenous community - past, present and future - by acknowledging the occupied lands of the Pueblo, Tewa and Tanos people. We know we have work to do in our own community, to identify, and take action to rectify any misjustice.

We know there is a lot of work to be done as a company. We haven’t been doing enough. Racism is ingrained in systems within our country and capitalist system, and because of that, the entire nation is hurting. We, as a company and community leaders, are listening, and we understand we must do more. We commit to holding ourselves accountable by taking steps to be anti-racist and continuously assessing and enhancing policies, practices, and procedures.

On June 3, the Co-CEOs of Meow Wolf, Ali Rubinstein, Carl Christensen, and Jim Ward, sent a note to the entire Meow Wolf team, which included actions the company would take, and their commitment to evolving these actions. From their letter:

“As a leadership team and company, we are committed to doing more than not being racist; we must be responsible to take on the work of anti-racism. This means using our platform, examining our company policies, procedures, and practices, and finding other active ways to create change.”

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The answer is clear that it needs to start with listening to Black, Indigenous, and Brown leaders and community members. We need to be constantly educating ourselves, understanding power and privilege, and having uncomfortable conversations. We must take action - not only as a company but as individuals in this system. 

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We plan to start our journey from the inside out, by first focusing on being the company we want to be. By embracing our own values. By remembering our collective, collaborative, and inclusive ethos. By working harder and seeking support from community leaders to achieve our diversity, equity, and inclusion goals.

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This work is an ongoing, lifelong process and commitment for long-term change. It won’t happen overnight, and it does not happen with just one person or one department. We encourage our company employees and each of us to find ways to learn, listen, and take actions in our daily life. 

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We recognize that being vocal is not enough. Writing articles is not enough. Posting on social media is not enough. Meow Wolf is committed to implementing actual change to our corporate culture through enhancing policies, practices, procedures, and supporting our employees personal journey to being more anti-racist.

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Meow Wolf is committed to doing the work. We need to hear from you as well. “

Since then, we've had a number of internal discussions to specify our commitments. Please read over our Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion goals and strategies below. We share the activities we have done, the changes we propose, and the ways we begin to hold ourselves accountable. Please note this list will be evolving and expanding as we gather feedback from our entire team, learn from community members, and consult diversity, equity, and inclusion leaders.

Currently in Place at Meow Wolf

• Continue anti-discrimination and anti-harassment trainings as part of our all company curriculum for staff, managers and leadership
• Focus our community engagement efforts on listening to, connecting with, and uplifting  marginalized communities, particularly members of the Black community
• Use our social media platforms to elevate messages of anti-racism, as well as Black, Brown, and Indigenous leaders and artists
• Seek out and prioritize working with artists of color for exhibitions and upgrades
• Continue to monitor pay equity among staff, including bringing in an outside consultant to conduct a compensation equity evaluation
• Improved our on-boarding paperwork to be inclusive of non-binary gender identification
• Expanded our anti-discrimination and anti-harassment policy in the Employee Handbook for each employee to sign a commitment
• Updated our equal opportunity employment statement and policy
• Enhanced our grievance process to include an anonymous tip line for employees to submit discrimination, ethics or harassment claims

Goals for Meow Wolf

• Publish the Meow Wolf mission statement and values
• Guide and train managers on anti-racism policies, practices, and procedures and how to talk to teams about anti-racism work and systems of oppression 
• Establish shared company language by defining commonly used diversity, equity & inclusion terminology
• Re-launch our Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Advisory Council with clear goals, resources and roles 
• Implement more leadership and staff trainings focused on diversity, equity and inclusion
• Add trainings to our onboarding process that include anti-racism policies, practices, and procedures
• Work with our team to guide their own personal journey, and set company goals and expectations for personal growth as related to our inclusive priorities
• Expand and publish our inclusive hiring policies, practices, and procedures
• Expand our recruiting efforts to reach and hire more diverse candidates
• Hire a Chief People Officer who shares our commitment and passion for our diversity, equity, and inclusion goals to lead our long-term efforts
• Creating a reading & resources list for Meow Wolf leadership and staff