Southwest artists contribute to insurgent Met show, Meow Wolf workers stage walkout in Texas, Tommy Orange wins MacArthur genius grant, and more top Southwest art news headlines for November 2025.
News
Workers at Meow Wolf Grapevine Coordinate Three-Day Strike Following Alleged Unfair Labor Practices
Over Halloween weekend, employees at Meow Wolf The Real Unreal in Grapevine, Texas, staged a three-day walkout in response to accumulating allegations of unfair labor practices used by the immersive arts facility during collective bargaining sessions. On October 14, workers organized an informational picket after Meow Wolf delivered a “last, best, and final” offer, which the union claims recommends lower wages than earlier proposals and the removal of retroactive pay for raises that workers were supposed to receive in April 2025. Union negotiations between Meow Wolf Workers Collective and Meow Wolf Grapevine stalled in July 2025 after eleven months of back and forth.
Southwest Artists Contribute to Insurgent AR Exhibition in The Met for Indigenous Peoples’ Day
Seventeen Indigenous artists—including multiple artists with Southwest ties—contributed works to ENCODED, an unsanctioned augmented reality exhibition in dialogue with artworks in the American Wing at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City. The Indigenous Peoples’ Day activation was co-curated by Tracy Reneé Rector and Amplifier, a nonprofit design lab that creates media campaigns for social change. Southwest-linked participants included Cannupa Hanska Luger (Mandan, Hidatsa, Arikara, Lakota), Nicholas Galanin (Lingít/Unangax̂), Mer Young (Chichimeca and Apache), and Demian DinéYazhi´(Diné).
New Mexico Senator Spearheads Bipartisan Resolution Recognizing Indigenous Peoples’ Day
Senator Martin Heinrich (D-New Mexico) introduced a bicameral legislative resolution to recognize the second Monday in October as Indigenous Peoples’ Day and officially designate it as a federal holiday. The resolution has received bipartisan support in both the Senate and the House, and is endorsed by multiple federally recognized tribes and Native advocacy groups, including the Navajo Nation, Acoma Pueblo, and the National Congress of American Indians.
Also:
- Members of the American Indian Movement convened outside the government offices of the Navajo Nation, calling for the resignation of President Buu Nygren. Their public demonstration echoed the direct action of AIM’s historic mobilizations, conjuring a dialogue between past and present Indigenous agitation. The protestors pointed to a defunded Missing and Murdered Indigenous People program, alleged mismanagement of housing funds, and unfulfilled promises to clean up abandoned uranium mines as symbols of ongoing structural neglect and cultural erasure.
- The Roswell Museum reflected on the one-year anniversary of the devastating flood that tore through the southern New Mexico city on October 19-20, 2024. Recovery assessments tallied over 5,300 damaged objects. Many are in Chicago for restoration by The Conservation Center, and others will require attention from specialty conservators.
- Houston residents and elected officials employed creative resistance tactics against rainbow crosswalk removal directives ordered by Texas governor Greg Abbott.
- The Phoenix Art Museum will reopen its Art of the Americas and Europe galleries. The ten gallery spaces will present historic objects from the museum’s collection, as well as works by contemporary artists such as Amalia Mesa-Bains and Virgil Ortiz (Cochiti Pueblo).
- The Utah Museum of Fine Arts celebrated the reopening of its galleries dedicated to the arts and cultures of Mexico, Central, and South America. Over the course of three years, the galleries were redesigned in collaboration with Artes de México en Utah and community members.
- The Leonardo Museum in Salt Lake City announced its permanent closure, citing ongoing challenges with critical infrastructure as a driving force behind the decision.
- The Esperanza Peace and Justice Center opened the Museo del Westside, a community museum dedicated to the cultural heritage of San Antonio’s Westside.
- ACLU New Mexico unveiled a new mural in Albuquerque by Jodie Herrera, Sueños Sin Injusticia (Dreams Without Injustice), honoring the heart and integrity of the undocumented community. The ACLU writes that the downtown mural, “reflects justice, resilience, and community—a visual statement that claims space, signals solidarity, and reminds everyone that we belong here together.”
- Salt Lake City commemorated the reopening of the Seven Canyons Refuge interactive public art project, which was redesigned to be more water-conscious in an era of increasing aridification.
- Maja Ruznic and Æmen Ededéen launched Aletheia House, an experimental space for creative contemplation in New Mexico. It currently operates on an invite-only basis, welcoming artists and writers to stay in a secluded adobe casita for three weeks to three months to think, work, and reflect in solitude.
Grants and Awards:
Author and IAIA Alum Tommy Orange Awarded $800,000 MacArthur Genius Grant
The John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation announced its list of 2025 fellows recognized for their track record of exceptional creativity and contributions to their fields. Each winner will receive an unrestricted $800,000 award disbursed over five years. Fiction writer Tommy Orange (Cheyenne and Arapaho Tribes of Oklahoma) was selected as one of this year’s fellows for his work that embodies the complex, layered experiences of urban Native Americans. Orange graduated from Santa Fe’s Institute of American Indian Arts in 2016 and has since published the award-winning novels There There and Wandering Stars.
Nora Naranjo Morse and Demian DinéYazhi´ Receive $100,000 NACF SHIFT Award
The Native Arts and Cultures Foundation announced its 2025 recipients of the SHIFT – Transformative Change + Indigenous Arts award. The program supports artists and community collaborators using Indigenous perspectives to drive social change. Two artists from the Southwest, Nora Naranjo Morse (Tewa) and Demian DinéYazhi´(Diné), are the awardees. They will receive multi-year professional development and marketing support from the NACF to help actualize their creative projects, along with a $100,000 grant each.
Also:
- The Nasher Sculpture Center in Dallas selected Kosovar artist Petrit Halilaj as the winner of the 2027 Nasher Prize for his artistic contributions to the advancement of sculpture. He is donating the $100,000 award to the Hajde! Foundation, a Kosovo-based nonprofit founded between him and his sister which supports Kosovar artists.
- Diné weaver Roy Kady was selected as an honoree for the the Maxwell/Hanrahan Award in Craft. They were nominated by Kevin Aspaas (Diné), and will receive a $15,000 grant for their newly formed Navajo-Churro Lamb & Mutton Presidium.
- The University of New Mexico Art Museum welcomed a gift of over one hundred photographs from the collection of Los Angeles–based collectors Daniel Greenberg and Susan Steinhauser. Graciela Iturbide, Pablo Ortiz Monasterio, and Annie Leibovitz are among the photographers whose works are included in the donation.
- Ucross launched a new culinary residency at its campus in Wyoming. The inaugural culinary resident is the writer and chef Brendan Basham (Diné).
Leadership Changes and Appointments:
Jenea Sanchez Moves to Focus Efforts on Co-Directing Border Arts Corridor
The Arts Foundation for Tucson and Southern Arizona thanked its outgoing communications director Jenea Sanchez for an impactful five years at the organization. “[Her] unwavering dedication to nurturing relationships and uplifting the work of our vibrant creative community has been truly inspiring,” wrote the foundation in its October newsletter. Sanchez will shift her full-time focus to co-directing the Border Arts Corridor in Douglas, Arizona, and Agua Prieta, Sonora, a nonprofit arts organization she founded with her husband.
RedLine Hosts Farewell Celebration for Outgoing Director Louise Martorano
After fifteen years as executive director of RedLine Contemporary Art Center in Denver, Louise Martorano joined the Community Arts Stabilization Trust in Colorado as managing director in July. In conjunction with RedLine’s annual One Square Foot Anonymous Art Sale fundraiser, the nonprofit arts organization hosted a goodbye party to honor Martorano’s contributions over the years. During her time as executive director, she led significant initiatives working to address Denver’s affordability crisis for artists.
Also:
- New York-based digital publication Hyperallergic, which periodically covers contemporary art in the Southwest, appointed former managing editor Hakim Bishara as its new editor-in-chief. Founding editor Hrag Vartanian will now operate as the publication’s editor-at-large.
- Dallas Contemporary announced that Anna Katz, senior curator at The Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles, will be the curator of its second annual North Texas Graduate Student Program exhibition.
- Nonprofit art center DiverseWorks of Houston ushered in multiple new board members, staff, and interns.
