MaMaPaLooZa 2026 – Sunday May 3, Arts Exchange – ROCK YOUR BABY: 11-4PM

Mamapalooza 2026 is coming to St. Petersburg!

ROCK YOUR BABY on Sunday, May 3rd, 2026 at the ArtsXchange Campus in the Warehouse Arts District (WADA) for a free, family-friendly festival celebrating mothers, caregivers, families, creativity, and community connection 11-4PM.

Hosted by the Museum of Motherhood (MoM), Mamapalooza is both a joyful community celebration and a fundraiser supporting MoM’s year-round cultural programming, exhibitions, and outreach. In its third year, the event has grown to welcome 400–500 attendees annually, bringing together families, artists, health providers, and community organizations from across Pinellas County.

LIVE MUSIC LINEUP
Petal and Bass
The Rum Syndicate
Phono Matrix
Mahray
Rainbow Portal

SPECIAL HEALTH & WELLNESS FEATURES
Free health screenings will be provided by the BayCare Mobile Health Unit, located across from the main stage, offering accessible preventive care for families during the event.

FAMILY & COMMUNITY RESOURCES
Mamapalooza will feature trusted partners providing support for new and expecting families, including free newborn and postpartum supplies and connections to local services such as:
St. Anthony’s Hospital, BayCare
Healthy Start Coalition of Pinellas County
Florida Department of Health in Pinellas County
Postpartum Support International – Florida Chapter
Lactation Loop
Pink Fitness Florida
Southern Alchemy Wellness / Southern Birthing Wellness
Unlimited Pediatric Therapy

COMMUNITY SPONSORS
We are proud to be supported by:
Pinellas Community Foundation
Juvenile Welfare Board of Pinellas County
Rays Rowdies Foundation
Unlimited Pediatric Therapy

SUPPORT THE MUSEUM OF MOTHERHOOD – PUT MoM on the MAP IN PINELLAS – WITH A HOME OF OUR OWN!
Mamapalooza is a fundraiser supporting MoM. Guests can give back by purchasing raffle tickets, buying merchandise, or becoming a museum member. Event entry is FREE.

Enjoy live music, hands-on activities, community resources, wellness services, and a welcoming space for all ages in one of St. Pete’s most vibrant arts districts.

Come celebrate families, support local culture, and experience a day full of music, meaning, and community connection. EVERY DAY IS MOTHERS’ DAY! (FREE to ALL)

A promotional poster for Mamapalooza event titled 'Rock Your Baby,' featuring live music, food, health screenings, and wellness resources. Date is May 3, 2026, from 11 AM to 4 PM at ArtsXchange, St. Pete, FL. Includes logos of sponsors and partners.
Mamapalooza_Info_2026
Promotional poster for Mamapalooza event featuring the text 'Rock Your Baby' with a colorful background, images of performers, and event details including date, time, location, and lineup of artists.

SUBMIT TO THE JOURNAL OF MOTHER STUDIES

Promotional poster for the Journal of Mother Studies, inviting submissions on topics related to reproductive identities, motherhood, and community collaboration. Includes submission deadline and contact information.

MoM’s MISSION

The Museum of motherhood is the first and only institution devoted to elucidating the art, science and history of women, mothers and families inclusive of all reproductive identities.

Our mission is to start great conversations, create compelling exhibits and share information and education that informs and inspires lives while acting as social change agents, community connectors and culture builders.

Together we increase well-being and-celebrate the most creative act in the world.

*Help us put MoM on the map in St Pete

Mapping Resilience: Stories of Young Motherhood Exhibition Opens April, 2026

PLEASE JOIN US FOR AN OPENING RECEPTION AND A MEET & GREET

Join us for the Grand Opening Reception: Friday, April 10 | 7–9:30 PM I Hear from young moms and community stakeholders! Join us for libations and conversation.

Where: Gallery at the Museum of Motherhood 2606 Fairfield Ave S in The Factory Building 7 St Pete

Please join us at MoM with Healthy Start. This lovely mix and mingle will feature stories (and results from the researchers and the mothers themselves), with refreshments, presentations and conversation. This will be followed by Second Saturday Art Walk April 11 5-9PM on April 11th.

Objective Young moms in Hillsborough County were asked to draw journey maps and accompany them with photos (photovoice) to share their story and participate in a novel method that prioritized uninterrupted narratives/storytelling.

How: The exhibit includes the hand-drawn journey maps from ten moms and their accompanied photos, as well as an interactive audio portion where participants can scan QR codes and listen to some portions of their story. 

Activities include: A table with “letters and advice for young moms” allowing visitors to write letters to young moms, which can then be distributed by Healthy Start/Healthy Families home visitors.

Curated by Mahir Rahman, NASM-CPT, AFAA-CGFI, graduate student in the Department of Anthropology at the University of South Florida, and a research intern with Healthy Start Hillsborough, has been leading a journey mapping and photovoice project with young mothers in the Tampa Bay community and across our programs. University of South Florida Website

Come and enjoy an immersive, audio-visual exhibit amplifying the real stories of pregnant and parenting adolescents in our community. Through powerful visuals and firsthand voices, this experience brings their journeys, challenges, and resilience into focus.

Questions call: 877-711-MOMS (6667) Lv message. We will call you back!

📍 Museum of Motherhood, St. Petersburg (2606 Fairfield Ave South, St. Petersburg, FL 33712)

Visit the exhibit now through the end of April.

A collage of various mothers and children, illustrating themes of young motherhood, with the title 'Mapping Resilience: In Our Own Words' prominently displayed.

SPECIAL THANKS TO ALL OUR MOM CONFERENCE PARTICIPANTS, ORGANIZERS and SPONSORS

Group of women celebrating the 20th anniversary of the Museum of Motherhood's Academic and Arts Conference, featuring Martha Joy Rose as the 2025 recipient of the Joy Award.
MoM Conference 2025- the ‘Joy Award’


Thank you all so very much for joining us for The Museum of Motherhood’s Annual International Academic & Arts Conference | Reproductive Identities & Resistance: Mothers and Others in Culture, Community & Collaboration. We couldn’t have done this without you!

A special thanks to our event sponsors, USF & St. Anthony’s Hospital BayCare Health System, and to our marketplace vendors: The Entourage Lab, PSI, and MoM bookstore. Thank you too, Dr. Aurelie Athan for your ongoing work. Congratulations on being awarded ‘The Joy Award’ 2026.

We look forward to sharing more of your work, distilling images and video – soon come. Until then, remember… MoM loves YOU!

LETTER FROM OUR FOUNDER

This week I wrote about love. While museums are not generally in the business of ‘love’, the Museum of Motherhood is. While we are not always perfect, our aspirations are consistent. Our values are written into the fabric of the museum. We are women supporting women.

When I started the Museum of Motherhood in 2003 in Dobbs Ferry, New York I was a lupus survivor, recent kidney transplant recipient, mother of four children (under 12yrs), and newly divorced. My compassion for other people in my situation, was enormous.

Even more than that – I wanted to create CHANGE: social change, cultural change, and economic change. It was visceral for me because I was caught in the whirlpool of each of those problematic issues.

From women’s healthcare to the inherent creativity of M/otherhood– I initially vacillated between the work of Jane Adams (and Hull House), and resources for artists.

Many years later and many beautiful people down the road, MoM has morphed & changed, of course. Every Student, Intern, Volunteer, Friend, academic and community member who has invested time in MoM has helped to shape her.

No doubt she will continue to grow and change. Such is LIFE! However, we’re currently at a crossroads. While I continue to navigate major health issues, the team is continuing the awesome and important work of MoM. But we need help. We need people to take my place. All kinds of initiatives from a bonafide Executive Director in training to social media helpers to onsite docents. Some jobs pay. Some are volunteer. Either way, we hope you’ll consider getting involved!

I am confident that with LOVE as her core value, MoM will continue to succeed as a place of kindness, tolerance, and education in this world. ~ Martha Joy Rose

SUPPORT MOM – SO SHE CAN SUPPORT YOU

Promotional ticket for MoM's Escape Womb Experience at the Museum of Motherhood in St. Petersburg, FL, featuring booking information and a QR code.
MoM’s Escape Womb Experience Tickets
Image detailing entrance fees for a museum, including general admission, discounts for children, seniors, and students, along with membership options and benefits.

Reproductive Identities and Resistance: Mothers and Others in Culture, Community and Collaboration – USF, St Pete

For the past 20 years, since 2005, the Museum of Motherhood (MoM) has been bringing together scholars, mother-artists, change makers, and community members for the Annual Academic & Arts MoM Conference. 

We have welcomed participants from around the world to join us in person and on Zoom as they share research, expertise, creative projects, and a passion for the issues, obstacles and health-related topics affecting women, m/others and families. This year is no different!

JOIN US for this year’s theme of Reproductive Identities and Resistance: Mothers and Others in Culture, Community and Collaboration. Advance registration required.

Academics, Artists & Activists

This year’s conference theme is grounded in Aurélie M. Athan’s concept of reproductive identity as a lifelong meaning-making process regarding how individuals orient themselves to reproduction, parenting, and caregiving, and the “if/when/how/who” associated with reproductive decision-making. Find out more here.

As a concept, reproductive identity is fluid and resists pronatalist and patriarchal mandates that dictate narrow expectations about reproductive outcomes and parenting. It centers an individual’s lived experiences and associated meanings about all aspects of reproduction, including being childfree, pregnancy, infertility, abortion, pregnancy loss and grief, adoption, and extended family systems of caregiving.

The various and ever-changing meanings associated with reproduction (or reproductive potential) across the lifespan is paramount to understanding reproductive identity as a concept with emotional, spiritual, financial, familial, cultural, and political influences and implications. As a conference theme, we welcome work that shares interdisciplinary, feminist, holistic, developmental, and narrative inquiry with reproductive identity as a concept.

ATTEND the MoM Conference -2026

Join us for The Museum of Motherhood’s Annual Academic and Arts Conference March 27-29, 2026.

The conference Reproductive Identities & Resistance: Mothers and Others in Culture, Community & Collaboration will feature the work of mother scholars, artists, and world changers with panels, art, and student presentations in addition to scholarly work presented by individuals around the world.

The conference will be hosted live and in-person on Friday and Saturday at The Edge on USF St Pete campus in St. Petersburg, Florida. Sunday is reserved for remote access only.

REGISTER HERE

We invite critical reflection and collective inquiry into how maternal, reproductive, and care-centered identities are formed, challenged, and transformed across contexts, relationships, and life stages. We seek work that explores these identities not only as individual journeys, but as deeply social, political, and communal acts.

Text on a torn paper background reading 'Open to the Community with Advance Registration' alongside a circular logo labeled 'MoM' for 'Moms of Motherhood'.

REGISTER FOR THE CONFERENCE

Logo of the University of South Florida featuring a green and gold design with a stylized bull and the text 'University of South Florida'
University of South Florida, St Pete
Logo of St. Anthony's Hospital, part of the BayCare Health System, featuring a blue cross and the hospital name in bold text.
St Anthony’s Hospital Sponsorship St Petersburg, FLorida

Campus Map Here

SEE FULL SCHEDULE HERE

March is Women’s Herstory Month! MoM Activates Community Through Arts, Advocacy, and Education!

Museum of Motherhood Activates Community Through Arts, Advocacy, and Education This Spring – March is Women’s Herstory Month!

WOMEN’S HISTORY IS EVERYONE’S HISTORY

WOMEN SHAPE St PETE: Did you know, Sarah Williams is considered the ‘Mother of the City of St Pete’ after she persuaded Peter Demens to bring the Orange Belt Railroad to downtown St. Petersburg, instead of Gulfport. In 1887. Peter Demens, Russian railroad man, and John Williams worked together to bring the Orange Belt Railroad to what would become St. Petersburg, Florida. (named after Peter Demens’s hometown in Russia.) . Considered “Mother of the City,” Williams had two sons and even more husbands. (Founded 1888, incorporated 1892 (population approximately 300 people).

Women’s History Month is an essential acknowledgement that corrects an imbalance in how our national story has traditionally been told. For generations, the achievements of women—in science, politics, education, caregiving, civil rights, the arts, and industry—have been overlooked or minimized. Dedicating a month to women’s history ensures their contributions are recognized as central, not peripheral, to the American story.

A collage of historical photographs and graphics, including vintage images, a museum display titled 'Museum of Motherhood', and the seal of St. Petersburg, Florida.
Women’s History St Petersburg, Florida

We cannot change the future (for the better) without understanding our past. Women’s History Month encourages a more accurate and inclusive understanding of democracy itself—one that acknowledges both progress made and work still to be done in building a fair and equitable society.

To that end, The Museum of Motherhood (MoM) maintains a robust calendar of exhibitions, public programs, conferences, and partnerships that continues to deepen our role as a vibrant, community-centered, educational and cultural institution. Together we explore m/otherhood as a social, cultural & artistic force. Learn more at MOMmuseum.org.

FILM FESTIVAL ROCKS EQUITY IN SARASOTA AND STREAMING

Graphic for the 27th International Film Festival titled 'REEL EQUALS', produced by 'Through Women's Eyes', taking place from March 5-10, 2026, in Sarasota, FL, with the tagline 'Advancing Gender Equality Through Film'.
Reel Equals – Through Her Eyes Film Festival

FILM FESTIVAL SARASOTA: March 5 – 10 with a Spotlight on Diverse Voices: ​Reel Equals International Film Festival Shines in Sarasota in a community collaboration with the Museum of Motherhood and the internationally recognized educational & arts conference with two decades of impact. In person and streaming: ThroughWomensEyes.org.

TWENTY-FIRST ANNUAL ACADEMIC & ARTS CONFERENCE MoM & USF

An illustration featuring diverse women's faces, promoting the Museum of Motherhood's academic conference titled 'Reproductive Identities & Resistance,' scheduled for March 27-29, 2026. The event focuses on themes of motherhood, culture, community, and collaboration and will take place both in person and online via Zoom.

March 27-29The Annual International Academic and Arts MoM Conference 2026 in partnership at USF, St Pete features panels and presentations focused on reproductive identities, maternal experiences, and the intersections of motherhood with art, policy, healthcare, education, and social justice. Offered both in person and online, the conference is designed to be academically rigorous while remaining accessible to students, professionals, and community members alike. Open to the community with advance registration: JourMS.org

NEW ART EXHIBIT COMING. SAVE THE DATE

Promotional poster for the 'Mapping Resilience' exhibition at the Museum of Motherhood, featuring stories of young motherhood, running from April 6-26, with an opening party on April 10th.
Mapping Resilience with young mothers exhibit at the Museum of Motherhood

NEW EXHIBIT: Mapping Resilience- Stories of Young Motherhood

When: April 6 – 26, 2026 

Where: Gallery at the Museum of Motherhood 2606 Fairfield Ave S in The Factory Building 7 St Pete

Official Opening Reception April 10th 7-9:30PM (Stakeholder Day): Please join us at MoM with Healthy Start. This lovely mix and mingle will feature stories (and results from the researchers and the mothers themselves), with refreshments, presentations and conversation. This will be followed by Second Saturday Art Walk April 11 5-9PM on April 11th.

Objective Young moms in Hillsborough County were asked to draw journey maps and accompany them with photos (photovoice) to share their story and participate in a novel method that prioritized uninterrupted narratives/storytelling.

How: The exhibit includes the hand-drawn journey maps from ten moms and their accompanied photos, as well as an interactive audio portion where participants can scan QR codes and listen to some portions of their story. 

Activities include: A table with “letters and advice for young moms” allowing visitors to write letters to young moms, which can then be distributed by Healthy Start/Healthy Families home visitors.

Curated by Mahir Rahman, NASM-CPT, AFAA-CGFI Graduate Student, Applied Anthropology University of South Florida Website

SUBMISSIONS FOR A ZINE AS PART OF MOM CONFERENCE

"Bad Mother" Myth Busting event announcement by the Museum of Motherhood, discussing the misconceptions around motherhood, scheduled for January 2025, featuring a call to action for participation in an arts-based project.
Bad Mother Myth Busting Project

SHOUT OUT~!

Our friends at Sunday Assembly be eatin’ nearby on March 14th in Gulfport during the day. Second Saturday Art Walk in the evening at MoM and beyond.

Promotional poster for the Soul Food Festival, featuring colorful graphics of fried chicken, macaroni and cheese, and other dishes, with event details including date, time, and location at Trolley Market in Gulfport, Florida.
Sunday Assembly