Can you answer this question? How many people wept tears of gratitude on Saturday at the Museum of Motherhood, either because they felt ‘seen’, ‘heard’, or because they accessed the information they’d been seeking?
The answer is THREE, in addition to the other amazing people we had the pleasure of interacting with. We witnessed the overwhelmed military mom, a traveler from Dallas, and a son who recently lost his mother and was looking for connection. They all dabbed tears from their eyes. Since moving to The Factory in St Pete, we are greeting approximately 1,200 people a month with a mission of informing and inspiring lives while remaining free and open to the public. We are able to do this because of your generous donations.
The non-profit world is hard. It’s a fact that many museums struggle to maintain their collections, buildings and staff. MoM currently has over a dozen community volunteers, a devoted director, a strategic team for infrastructure building and fiscal growth, a commendable collection of mother-made art, and a mission of taking our rightful place in the museum world.
For twenty years, on a shoestring budget, with an unrelenting commitment to thrive, founder Martha Joy Rose has championed the Museum of Motherhood, first through its New York non-profit status with the Motherhood Foundation Inc, to the MaMaPaLooZa Festival, to the streets of Seneca Falls, to Manhattan College, to the Department of Gender and Sexuality at USF in Tampa, to St Petersburg, Florida.
In 2019, the MOM Art Annex 501c3 was approved for Florida non-profit status. Then, the pandemic. MoM pivoted to mentor eighteen interns from around the world with a variety of projects and made its facility available to over a dozen artists in residence supporting mother made art, literature, and performance. Post-pandemic, from 2022-2023, we conducted over 178 in-home tours featuring the artifacts in our permanent collection, hosted healthy community suppers for families in need, and participated in Localtopia. We were able to purchase the Mother Tree for our permanent collection in 2023 and make the transition from the MOM Art Annex office to The Factory in the Arts District of St. Pete.
The Time For MoM’s Sustainability Is Now
We are poised for success. Our ducks are in a row, our noses are clean and our strategy for success is in place. All we need now are the partnerships, dollars, and donors to take this museum production to legacy status. Our goals are to continue to build out community partnerships. This year we added the Fairgrounds St Pete, Heiress Gallery, Girls Rock St Pete, and Naaman Creative to our team of community collaborators.
Our space at The Factory is staffed and ready to greet you. Exhibitions since our opening in September have included Amy Wolf’s wearable collection, and Alexia Nye Jackson’s Mother: The Job. Plans are underway for our annual spring MoM Conference, and future exhibits with Madison Hendry and Christen Clifford.
Please Donate Today
Our Go Fund Me has launched with a goal of raising $30K. (These dollars have already been matched for our 2023 budget). Now we need to raise the rest! We will be using this money to pay our rent, keep our lights and phone on, and to make our website ADA compliant.
Donations can be made by Check and addressed to 538 28th St. N. St Petersburg, FL 33713, through our Go Fund Me, or on our website. Your support is critical to our success. LINK TO OUR GO FUND ME IS HERE.
