Santa Fe arts firm Meow Wolf has chosen Julie Heinrich to lead a new nonprofit foundation.
Heinrich joins Meow Wolf after eight years at Washington, D.C., based Weber Shandwick, a public relations and marketing firm, where she was senior vice president. Before that, Heinrich worked as a communications officer for former Albuquerque mayor Jim Baca, according to Meow Wolf.
Heinrich, who is married to U.S. Sen. Martin Heinrich, was unable to be reached for immediate comment.
Details on the Meow Wolf Foundation are scarce — although the company says more details are on the way. In a statement from Heinrich, the foundation is described as doing work "alongside the company as a mission-driven entity, using art and imagination to build community, encourage more equal access to culture and impact change.”
In a news release, Meow Wolf says it has contributed more than $2 million to nonprofit partners since it was founded.
The announcement of Heinrich's hiring comes after a big year for Meow Wolf, which opened permanent installations in Denver and Las Vegas, Nevada, in 2021. That came in addition to updating its House of Eternal Return exhibit in Santa Fe. Meow Wolf hired about 600 people last year, and the company now employs about 1,000 people in total.
The company announced on Jan. 11 that it had hired former ViacomCBS executive Jose Tolosa as its CEO.
Meow Wolf is also working with an employee union, called the Meow Wolf Workers Collective, which announced a tentative contract on social media last month.
The arts firm began as a do-it-yourself collective in 2008. Its foundation will focus on existing company locations — New Mexico, Colorado and Nevada — as well as new locations.
