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A look inside East Mountain High School's Meow TimberWolf Project, where 29 students turned an empty portable classroom into an immersive art installation.
Photo Credit: East Mountain High School
As the 2025-2026 school year begins, we’re reflecting on one of the most inspiring projects we’ve seen this year from young creators: Meow TimberWolf at East Mountain High School.
At the end of the 2024-2025 school year, 29 students turned an empty portable classroom into an immersive art installation. With months of planning and seven days of building, they transformed recycled and donated materials into a surreal, multi-sensory environment complete with live music and an original short film.
Sound familiar? That’s because these students were channeling the very same principles that drive Meow Wolf: collaboration, storytelling, and the belief that creativity has the power to transform not just spaces, but lives.
The project began with a single Post-it note covered in scribbles, but grew into something much bigger. Students formed three teams: visual art, live music, and film, and took full ownership of their work. They built installations by hand, learned new instruments to compose and perform original songs, and created all aspects of a cinematic companion piece that tied everything together.
When Meow TimberWolf debuted in May 2025, students, faculty, and community members were invited to step inside a world designed entirely by students. Guests experienced vibrant art, live soundscapes, and a film narrative that brought the installation to life. The result wasn’t just an event– it was a testament to what happens when young people are given space to imagine, experiment, and lead.
The Artifact - A short Film by Maysen Peifer-Updike
We asked Michael Wood, teacher at East Mountain High School and facilitator of this project to reflect on the impact of Meow TimberWolf and the possibilities for the year ahead:
Q. How do you see projects like Meow TimberWolf helping students understand the power of creativity and collaboration?
Projects like Meow TimberWolf give students a rare opportunity to see how powerful creativity can be when it’s shared and connected across different mediums. By combining music, film, and visual art into a single immersive experience, students discover that their individual talents become stronger when they collaborate. They learn that creativity is not just about self-expression—it’s also about building something larger than themselves, something that can move and inspire others. This was especially profound because of the school community’s adoration of the original Santa Fe Meow Wolf.
For many of them, this was the first time they experienced the intensity of a real creative team, where ideas overlap, problems are solved collectively, and the final product is more impactful because of everyone’s contributions. That sense of ownership and belonging helps them realize that creative work isn’t just about making art—it’s about building community.
Q. Are you all creating another Meow TimberWolf for this school year?
We are getting juniors together in early September to start planning the end-of-year project, and I would like to propose the idea again. I would love to keep you all in the loop if they are responsive to the idea.
Q. What role do you see organizations like Meow Wolf playing in supporting and inspiring future student projects?
Meow Wolf serves as a model for what’s possible—how artists, musicians, filmmakers, and designers can join forces to build something immersive and meaningful. I’d love to have more artists from the Meow Wolf community come to the school to help lead planning sessions or art creation. That kind of inspiration can spark future student projects that are more ambitious, interdisciplinary, and community-focused. Just knowing that an organization like Meow Wolf exists, and that it cares about young artists, gives students both permission and motivation to dream bigger.
At Meow Wolf, we’re deeply grateful for educators like Michael Wood whose dedication to students makes projects like Meow TimberWolf possible. His commitment, alongside the efforts of fellow teachers, staff, families, and community supporters, creates the environment where young people can take bold creative risks and discover the power of collaboration. It’s this network of encouragement that allows students not only to imagine new worlds but to bring them to life, leaving a lasting impact on their school and community.
For Meow Wolf, seeing this project was deeply moving. Our mission has always been to inspire creativity in others, and Meow TimberWolf reminded us that the next generation of artists, musicians, and storytellers are already here, boldly shaping their own immersive experiences.
As the 2025-2026 school year kicks off, these students carry forward the lessons they learned: that imagination matters, that collaboration can build worlds, and that creativity has the power to connect people in meaningful ways.
Projects like Meow TimberWolf remind us why we do what we do, and why supporting young creators is essential to the future of immersive art. Here’s to a school year full of possibility, and to the students who remind us every day that creativity has no age limit.
