Where to find Meow Wolf at this year’s Crush street art festival in RiNo

The live painting party that is Crush is back for another year of beautifying RiNo, and this time with a major name backing it.

The popular Santa Fe arts collective Meow Wolf has signed on as a sponsor for this year’s festival, running through Sept. 17, meaning they are helping out not only financially and with promotion, but they are supplying some artists, too.

Crush was founded in 2010 and celebrates graffiti and the street artists who each year turn the walls lining RiNo’s streets and alleys into an open-air gallery that revelers of all ages can walk through and watch come to life. The murals will stand long after the festival is over, providing beautification and endless photo-ops to the neighborhood.

The walls will be decorated from 27th and Larimer streets in Denver all the way up to 40th and Williams this year. Aside from the live graffiti and street art, the event will also feature educational talks and lectures with local businesses, giving visitors a chance to engage with the artists and learn more about the art.

“When we found out about Crush, how beautiful it was and that people got paid, we couldn’t resist the opportunity to be a sponsor,” said John Feins, director of marketing for Meow Wolf.

The collective is very close to the artists here; rumors have been buzzing for months that it may select Denver for its next location outside the immersive art installation of Santa Fe.

“We love Denver, we are considering Denver very strongly for our next location. It’s hard to believe at some point we won’t be in Denver,” he added.

But more than anything, the festival’s vision is “simpatico” with Meow Wolf, Feins said, because it is community-driven and pays its artists. “Artists are practitioners and workers who should be valued like anyone else,” he said.

“To have an organization like Meow Wolf partner with Crush helps us continue our efforts to support artist’s creative freedom and educate the public about artist’s owning their copyright on the works they create,” Lindsey Hendershot, Crush executive director, said in a release. “This ensures that artists have the tools to make a living at what they are passionate doing.”

The collective will be sending up two artists who will be creating murals in the main parking lot of Denver Central Market at 27th and Larimer streets alongside the almost 100 artists who will be creating works of art live on RiNo walls for what the event is calling the “largest curated outdoor gallery yet.”

“When we see other artists doing great things, we want to support them,” Feins said.

For more event info, artists’ names and wall locations, go to crushwalls.org.

Here is a look back at last year’s festival:

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