No one knows exactly what Meow Wolf Denver will turn out to be just yet — that’s part of the intrigue that will reveal itself when the hipster arts and entertainment installation opens Sept. 17 at the juncture of I-25 and the Colfax Avenue viaduct. But one thing that’s already as clear as the eyeballs on a fluffy British shorthair is that Meow Wolf is bringing a desperately needed boost to Denver’s pandemic-ravaged arts employment sector.

According to the SCFD, the pandemic wiped out at least one-third of all creative-sector jobs by layoff, furlough or elimination. That’s more than 50,000 livelihoods. And that only covers those who were employed in quantifiable, payroll-style jobs. That doesn’t even touch the thousands of paying concert and performance opportunities that actors, dancers, musicians, comics and technicians lost out on during the shutdown.

Life as an artist has always meant swiftly moving from one gig to the next. A decent band might score a paying set at a local club once every two months. When an actor lands a part in a play or a musical, that might cover them for six or eight weeks — then, on to the next. A visual artist lives precariously from one sold piece to the next. The pandemic not only took most of that away, but secondary sources of income like bartending and waiting tables as well. And COVID spared no one, including Meow Wolf, which had to lay off or furlough 250 of its own employees when there was no revenue coming into the company’s headquarters in Santa Fe.

Still, for the Denver creative community, Meow Wolf is the unicorn of arts employment. Most of its jobs are full-time, come with benefits and represent that often unattainable grail: permanent, stable, ongoing employment for creative people. In numbers that are boggling.

“We are hiring more than 300 staff members to manage the building and the guest experience,” said Meow Wolf General Manager Alex Bennett. Of those, about 210 are full-time hourly positions, and about 120 are salaried jobs.

Outside of the Denver Center, there might not be 120 salaried jobs in the entire Colorado theatre community combined.

Meow Wolf is hiring creative workers to build, maintain, support and operate the massive gallery exhibition space that will span four floors and 90,000 square feet. Docents, most with performance backgrounds, will serve as interactive guides who play spontaneous characters while navigating guests through the narrative. Others are being hired to work in the box office, restaurant, guest services, security and janitorial divisions.

Additionally, Meow Wolf commissioned 110 Colorado artists whose 79 interactive installations will make up the immersive world of the Denver experience, Meow Wolf’s third and largest to date.

It’s been titled “Convergence Station,” and it is described as “the first stop on a quantum journey of exploration and discovery as passengers traverse new worlds, and labyrinthine mysteries beckon from its vibrant walls, portals and wormholes.”

“This is absolutely,” said Jessica Austgen, “the cool-kid job to have in Denver.”

Austgen, who is well-known in Colorado’s theater and comedy communities, has been hired as Meow Wolf’s Performance Manager. Her job is to train and supervise about 100 employees called “creative operators” — even more during the summer and holidays. She describes their roles as part-scripted, part-improvised as they help to bring the physical art to life for the audience.

In other words, they’ll be getting paid to play. And many of the names are notable in the Colorado creative community. Austgen herself is a prolific playwright, actor, improviser, director, podcaster and theater educator who was named Colorado’s 2018 Theatre Person of the Year by the True West Awards. Brenda Lawson will serve as Wardrobe Manager after decades with the DCPA Theatre Company. Escape-room innovator Cody Borst’s title is Exhibit Maintenance Lead. Public Relations Manager Erin K. Barnes, well-known in local rock circles, is the author of a new memoir titled “Glory Guitars: Memoir of a ’90s Teenage Punk Rock Grrrl.”

Local performers on Austgen’s crew include Austin Terrell, who most recently managed Alamo Drafthouse’s Westminster cinemas; rising local actors Adeline Mann, Lisa Gaylord and Seth Palmer-Harris; and improv comedians Chris Gallegos, Arantxa Chavez and Graham Marsden. Another role-playing docent will be young Noah Jackson, who made a bit of history in 2018 when a short play he wrote as part of a student playwriting competition became the first story to address the topic of gender identity in the 40-year history of the Denver Center.

The impressive roster of installation artists includes Kalyn Heffernan – best known as the MC of the local rap band Wheelchair Sports Camp and, now, composer of Phamaly Theatre Company’s upcoming original adaptation of “Alice in Wonderland” at Su Teatro; Collin Parson, the Arvada Center’s Director of Galleries; Joseph Lamar, a musician and actor who co-starred in the Aurora Fox’s 2018 musical “Passing Strange”; Andrew Novick, Denver’s tastemaker for all things culturally weird; and Molina Speaks, a poet, living-word architect and “human bridge.”

Several other locals are involved with other Meow Wolf installations. Longtime Denver theater icon John Ashton, for example, is prominently featured as a digital character in the Las Vegas exhibit.

After the ravages of 2020, these jobs mean something to those who now have them. Like Austgen, who had 10 freelance contracts lined up for the year only to lose them all after the shutdown.

“Everything was difficult,” she said. “Going from a year and a half of uncertainty, and pulling yourself up by your bootstraps, and having to make your own opportunities to this is a huge load off. Suddenly, here’s this company that says, ‘Here’s a door: Walk through it. You don’t have to do everything on your own anymore. You work for us now.’ It’s an exhale. And stepping into something with a track record and is stable is particularly wonderful.”

Bennett says Meow Wolf’s investment in local artists is just part of the company’s larger commitment to the artistic community and to the low-income, high-poverty Sun Valley neighborhood it has just joined. Meow Wolf, he says, will lead ongoing conversations about public art projects, neighborhood improvements and cleanup. And it will partner with the Denver Housing Authority to create affordable access for low-income families and Denver Public Schools students. It’s all part of the radical progressive spirit that Meow Wolf was founded on, Bennett said.

“Meow Wolf is the only entertainment corporation in the country that is legally registered as a B-Corp (or public-benefit corporation),” he said. “That means we are committed to a lot of different things like inclusivity, equity, social responsibility, giving back to our community, doing our part to better the environment and offering a living wage to our staff.”

Last week’s announcement of Denver’s opening date garnered global media attention. And that, Bennett said, is not only good for Meow Wolf but for Denver and its artist community as well. “Our message that Denver is already such an amazing artistic town is one that people in New York or Los Angeles or Paris maybe don’t already realize,” he said. “We are helping to shine a light on that, and we will for a long time.”

The best part of all of all this, though, is that Meow Wolf is putting creative people to work. “And we don’t ever want that to end,” he said.

Denver Gazette contributing arts columnist John Moore is an award-winning journalist who was named one of the 10 most influential theater critics by American Theatre Magazine. He is now producing independent journalism as part of his own company, Moore Media.