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)
Mamapalooza_Info_2026
MaMaPaLooZa Stage Lineup
SUBMIT TO THE JOURNAL OF MOTHER STUDIES
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.
A new year is unfolding at the Museum of Motherhood—and it’s already full of momentum. 🌱 From board leadership and strategy sessions to festivals, conferences, and community celebrations, 2026 is shaping up to be a year of action, reflection, and collective joy. Our latest blog lays out what’s ahead, why it matters, and how you can be part of it—from January goal-setting to a fall focus on maternal mental health. Take a look, mark your calendar, and step into the year with us.
2026 Scheduled Dates:
January 14th Board Meeting and Kick-off for 2026 New Year Goals & Implementation
January 20th Implementation of 6 month strategy
February 14th Localtopia
March – Women’s History Month
April – Q2 Board Meeting
March 26 Leadership workshop with dinner for all team
March 27-29 MoM Conference
May 3 is MaMaPaLooZa
June 2nd Board Building Party – Barbara & Mary B-Day
July – Pride & Q3 Board Meeting – vote in new members
August – Hang on in The Factory to continue the good work
September – Mini-Conference Maternal Mental Health
MoM Membership Cooperative
We are delighted to invite you to become part of something special at the Museum of Motherhood—our Cooperative Membership Store & Shared Creative Space.
This is more than a retail visibility opportunity. It’s a living, breathing community where artists, educators, healers, organizers, and makers gather to share their talents, connect with the public, and support one another in a values-driven, cooperative environment.
Welcome to MoM’s Cooperative Space
Bring your art, expertise, objects, ideas, and meetings into a shared home where creativity and care are centered. By joining, you’ll collaborate in a vibrant real-world space while engaging with MoM’s audiences during events like Second Saturday Art Walk, Sunday Assembly, and MaMaPaLooZa Festival—as your schedule allows as well as during weekly hours.
What Participation Looks Like
Join MoM with a $30 annual membership
Sign up for 3-hour (short) or 6-hour (long) shifts—or more—during a 40-hour week (See Events & Calendar at MOMmuseum.org)
Greet visitors warmly and direct them to MoM’s signup portal
Share and sell your work, services, or expertise You keep 100% of your sales
If selling work by others, simply direct buyers to the item’s QR payment code and log the sale in the receipt book
What MoM Provides
Onesix-foot table, chairs, easels, and working space
Storage under tables (bring a labeled tote if you’d like to leave items onsite)
The option to leave onsite:
An 8 × 10 display with QR code
A notebook or portfolio of your work
Up to ¼ of a six-foot table of objects and one easel when you’re not present (Tables are shared among four cooperators)
Promotion of you and your work through MoM social media using graphics and info you provide
Why This Matters
By managing the space while you’re in it, you help keep MoM accessible, welcoming, and alive—while gaining visibility, community, and a meaningful place to share what you do best. If you believe in collaboration over competition, community over isolation, and creativity rooted in care—we would love to welcome you.
Welcome to MoM’s Cooperative Space. Please bring your art, talents, objects, and meetings. By agreeing to join this initiative you can expect:
Collaborate on a shared real estate for exhibiting and meeting clients and be part of our general audience on Second Saturday Art Walk, Sunday Assembly, MaMaPaLooZa Festival as per your availability with your great talents in exchange for a basic level MoM membership and an agreement to manage the space while you are in it.
MoM Team with volunteers at the Museum of Motherhood
MoM Needs Volunteers and Docents
The Museum of Motherhood is more than a museum, it’s a gathering space, a conversation starter, and a love letter to motherhood in all its forms. We’re looking for a friendly, curious, people-loving human to help welcome our community into the space.
Volunteerism is the heartbeat of the Museum of Motherhood. 💛 Our work is powered by people who give their time, skills, care, and creativity to help preserve stories, spark dialogue, and build a more humane future for families. From greeting visitors and supporting events to research, archiving, and advocacy, volunteers make it possible for MoM to keep its doors open, its programs vibrant, and its mission alive. Simply put: we keep going because our community shows up.
What you’ll do:
Greet visitors with warmth and make them feel at home the moment they arrive
Move through the museum, offering gentle, engaging introductions to exhibits and artworks
Spark curiosity, conversation, and connection throughout the space
Support our Mom Shop by sharing the stories behind our merchandise and assisting with sales
Invite visitors to deepen their relationship with the museum through memberships and events
Educate clients about available programs and assist with application processes when necessary
Maintain accurate records of client interactions and service provision in accordance with privacy policies
You might be perfect for this role if you:
Love art, culture, storytelling, and community spaces
Enjoy talking with people and making them feel seen and welcomed
Are comfortable engaging visitors in a relaxed, authentic way
Believe in honoring motherhood, caregiving, and lived experience as powerful cultural forces
Bring positive energy and openness into shared spaces
Excellent organizational skills and attention to detail for record keeping and coordination tasks
This is a role for someone who loves people, ideas, and meaningful work and wants to be part of a mission-driven, creative environment.
If you are interested in being part of our team but are not in a financial situation where you can volunteer, then we have some funds available for onsite docents in-space to greet people during our regular shifts.
Volunteer (we’re grateful if you can) or $17/hour Flexible, community-centered work A chance to be part of something special
Job Type: Part-time.
Interested? We’d love to hear from you.CONTACT: Scheduling@MOMmuseum.org
You might not always feel like it, but the future is looking bright. “How so?” you might wonder? Well, the truth is that light is everywhere—even in the darkness. Now that the season of light is upon us, we are pleased to welcome new initiatives, new interns, new solvency strategies, and the same ole sense of love and compassion that MoM musters in every circumstance.
At the Museum of Motherhood, we do not measure brightness by ease or comfort. We measure it by resilience, by care, and by the quiet, radical persistence of families who keep showing up for one another—even when systems fall short. And there are real reasons to believe the future of health, wellness, and education for families in America is bending toward something more humane.
Across the country, we are seeing renewed attention to maternal mental health, long overlooked and underfunded, now finally entering public conversation, clinical practice, and community-based solutions. Peer support models, trauma-informed care, and culturally responsive services are gaining traction—not because they are trendy, but because families have demanded better. Knowledge is catching up to lived experience.
In education, learning is expanding beyond classrooms and credentials. Intergenerational education, museum-based learning, and community storytelling are increasingly recognized as legitimate, powerful ways people grow and heal. Families are reclaiming learning as something that happens through curiosity, creativity, and connection—not just compliance. Museums like MoM are uniquely positioned to hold this work: part classroom, part commons, part sanctuary.
MoM Shop Open in December for Thank You Gifts for all museum memberships
Health and wellness, too, are being redefined. More families are questioning productivity-at-all-costs culture and returning to basics: rest, touch, creativity, food, movement, and meaning. Caregiving—once invisible—is becoming a subject of research, advocacy, and art. While this shift is far from complete, the cracks in the old model are letting light in.
At MoM, we see hope in the next generation. Our interns arrive not just with skills, but with clarity: they understand that care is infrastructure, that history shapes health, and that equity is not optional. They are asking better questions—and insisting on better answers.
We also see hope in sustainability: in new funding models, shared resources, and collaborative strategies that allow cultural institutions to survive without abandoning their values. Solvency, when grounded in ethics, becomes a form of care itself—ensuring that spaces for truth, tenderness, and transformation remain open.
The future will not be bright because it is easy. It will be bright because people continue to choose love, compassion, and responsibility for one another—especially in hard times. That is the work of m/otherhood. That is the work of this museum. And that is the light we are committed to tending, together.
YEAR END FUNDRAISING INITIATIVE
As our team celebrates the season of gratitude – I am thankful for a great year, awesome accomplishments, & for you!
MoM reaches people where they live, work and play through our family-friendly exhibits and education. We are Tampa Bay’s first and only women’s museum, devoted to the art, science and herstory of American women, mothers and families.
If you haven’t visited us yet, please do. We are virtual and in real time offering tours, exhibits, conversations, education, friendship, community, cultural connections and more since 2003~!
Martha JOY Rose, Founding Director
2025 MoM HIGHLIGHTS
Welcomed new board members: Amy Collins, Libby Hopkins, Meagan Welch, Regan Moss, and Tracie Williams to the MoM Executive Board.
Expanded our program team to include Jamika Rollins, Karimah Henry, Rachael Somerman, Dre Marie, LouAnne Hardtke, Amanda Bartles, Darlene Ceron, Lizzie Zacharis, and Susie Beltran.
Offered weekly free lactation consultations with Baby Café for breastfeeding support, advice, tools and conversation.
Partnered with Tampa Bay Period Pantry and Mutual Aid Choices Pantry to make products available to those seeking information, education, and free accessible items related to periods, birth control, and women’s health.
Produced Black Maternal Health mini-conference, addressing Black maternal health disparities and bringing together over 60 providers, birth workers, and funders to rally around community-led solutions.
Rocked out at Mamapalooza Family Festival with over 500 attendees and performances by local woman-founded and woman fronted bands.
Convened over 70 academics, artist, and students at the 20th Anniversary Academic & Arts Conference, hosted at USF St. Pete.
Implemented two photography and sculptural exhibits by local artists and welcomed two international artists, Julienne Doko and Raisa Nosova, for performances and mural works. (Huge gratitude to both amazing women) as well as student exhibits about ‘Caring St Pete’.
Secured over $50,000 in NEW grant funding through Community Foundation of Tampa Bay, Foundation for Healthy St. Pete, and the City of St. Pete.
MoM is celebrating a highly successful 2025, and we are on track to reach an annual fundraising goal of $100,000. This fundraising goal not only supports the ongoing work of MoM but makes it possible for our team to secure a permanent home in Tampa Bay and bring on paid staff members to expand our footprint as the one and only international destination museum devoted to the art, science, and history of women, m/others & families.
I hope you will consider making a tax-deductible year-end gift. 100% of your gift supports the longevity of the first and only museum of motherhood in the world. Our year-end giving campaign builds on all the success of 2025, see our donations and progress in real-time here.
This project focuses on the intersection of reproductive technology and cross-cultural perspectives, exploring how artificial intelligence is reshaping future experiences of “procreation” and “motherhood.”
As an artist and curator from East Asia now living in the United States, I aim to reflect on the different understandings of the female body and reproduction in Eastern and Western societies .And I will consider whether the intervention of AI technology may shift these cultural differences.
Through collaborations with artists of diverse nationalities, I will explore how humanity’s understanding of “motherhood” and “identity” evolves artistically when technology intervenes in the creation of life and the construction of identity. These artworks will employ varied materials and techniques to depict artists’ visions of future reproduction, presenting abstract perspectives on the possibilities of human evolution. They will amplify the reproductive relationship between motherhood and living organisms for the audience.
This project aims to connect individual memories with global shifts, inviting audiences to reconsider: In an era of rapid globalization and artificial intelligence advancement, are the identity and meaning of motherhood also undergoing transformation? How do people confront the long- standing biological relationships of life being overturned amidst the relentless march of evolutionary progress?
The Mess We Live In: What Clutter, Kids, and Culture Wars Reveal About Family Life
The notion of a “messy home” might conjure up images of toys strewn across the living room, dishes piling up in the sink, or laundry spilling out of baskets especially at times of duress. But the reality of mess is deeply tied to the internal worlds of families, to stress, identity, and even to the cultural divides that shape our society. At the Museum of Motherhood, exploring the messy intersections of parenting, culture, and mental health can be a powerful lens into what family life really feels like.
Mess Isn’t Just Physical — It’s Psychological, Social and Cultural
Evidence that women experience chronic stress not because the home is messy, but because society holds them responsible for preventing mess is a recognized truth.
Mess House – Courtesy Batya Weinbaum & Demeter Press
The Founder’s Bed – 2025
Tara Blackwell – MoM Residency 2019
Museum of Motherhood – NYC 2012
Martha Joy Rose – Grad School Mother Studies CUNY circa 2014
Debra Knox – TV Collage, CA circa 2008
Museum of Motherhood, NYC 2012
Spilt Milk – USF WGS Exhibit 2020
Emily at MoM, NYC 2013
Arlene’s Grocery, NYC 2008
Personal values — about lifestyle, morality, and behavior — can become battlegrounds for the debate about parenting styles and what constitutes a “good home”. This can be tricky territory. These debates can reflect broader cultural divides: who is responsible for domestic labor, how children should be raised, and what order or rituals define a “proper” family.
In a sense, the cluttered living room isn’t just a mess — it’s a battleground of values. Who gets to decide what “clean” means? Whose routines are prioritized? And how do power and labor dynamics play out in the seemingly mundane fights over tidying up?
Who cleans, who organizes, and who nags about mess often isn’t neutral territory. There’s emotional labor involved in maintaining a home, and that labor frequently falls disproportionately on women. For some, the answer is to simplify. For others the answer may lie in leaving the mess for another day.
What’s most important is feeling loved, safe and protected. Does your environment do that for you and how much control do ‘we’ actually have? What are the implications when we free ourselves from the mess or conversely embrace the mess?
At its heart, the reality of mess is a story about family, vulnerability, and power. Clutter isn’t just junk — it’s emotional freight, a signal of how we live, what we value, and how we struggle to balance the competing demands of parenting, culture, and self. In exploring mess through a psychological and cultural lens, the Museum of Motherhood can invite deeper conversations: not about being “better” mothers, but about being more honest, more human, and more connected to the complexities of our lived lives.
About the Exhibit
Mess House: A New Photo Exhibition by Martha Joy Rose MA Mother Studies. This exhibit wishes to gratefully acknowledge The Factory LLC organization for the use of wall space in Building 7 to explore archived photos from her personal collection. Exploring the compelling idea of a ‘Mess House’ is a somewhat universal theme. As humans we seek to create order (oftentimes ineffectually), confront our wildness and occasionally find acceptance and peace within the chaos of daily life and family.
Batya Weinbaum received her doctorate in English at University of Massachusetts at Amherst. She founded and edits the journal Femspec available at femspec.org. She was an artist in residence at the Art Annex of the Museum of Motherhood in St. Pete FL where she installed a mural of a fertility goddess, and she volunteers for the Museum in the winter. She is the mother of one and stays in Gulfport, FL several months in the winter where she shows her art.
From the Chapter Mess House, by Batya Weinbaum- Demeter Press 2025
When are we feral, self-expressive, and untamed to the degree that we throw out the baby with the bathwater so to speak in our revolt against traditional concepts of femininity and motherhood represented in conventional markers and paradigms of domestication—the swept, mopped floor, the uncluttered shining feng shui of spaces, the organized linen cabinets, the bare countertops in the spotless kitchens?
Those born into female bodies get the most pressure from society to meet unrealistic expectations of physical beauty. These unrealistic expectations of their bodies are parallel to the unrealistic expectations women are encouraged to have about their domestic space.[1]
Flo Kennedy noted, in her essay on “Institutionalized Oppression of the Female,” that “Women are dirt searchers; their greatest worth…” being “eradicating rings on collars and tables” (442). In doing so, and maintaining organization, they are keeping wildness at bay. (1. According to Women and Naturism: The Naturist Living Show (Mar 17 2010)
Resources:
Aviv, E., Waizman, Y., Kim, E., Liu, J., Rodsky, E., & Saxbe, D. (2024).Cognitive household labor: gender disparities and consequences for maternal mental health and wellbeing.Archives of Women’s Mental Health, 28(1), 5–14.
This study empirically measures the “cognitive labor” (planning, delegating, anticipating) that mothers do, and finds that mothers bear significantly more cognitive labor than their partners (~72% of it) even after controlling for physical tasks.
Importantly, the authors show that this disproportionate cognitive labor is strongly associated with higher stress, burnout, depression, and worse overall mental health in women.
Relevance: This offers direct evidence for your claim: the stress comes not just from “doing the cleaning,” but from being responsible for organizing and thinking about the household — and society (or their partners) expects women to carry that burden.
Ciciolla, L., & Luthar, S. S. (2019).Invisible Household Labor and Ramifications for Adjustment: Mothers as Captains of Households.Sex Roles, 81(7–8), 467–486.
This paper examines how the “invisible labor” (mental, emotional) related to managing the household is disproportionately carried by mothers.
They find that mothers who feel solely responsible for organizing schedules, maintaining order, and keeping family routines report role overload, lower life satisfaction, and strain in their relationships.
Relevance: Demonstrates that the expectation that women “manage the mess” — not just physical cleanliness but mental oversight — has measurable negative effects on their wellbeing.
Systematic Review: Gendered Mental Labor
Review article:Gendered Mental Labor: A Systematic Literature Review on the Cognitive Dimension of Unpaid Work Within the Household and Childcare.
This review analyzed 31 peer-reviewed studies and found a consistent pattern: women perform a significantly larger share of mental labor (planning, scheduling, organizing) and this labor is associated with stress, lower life satisfaction, and negative career impacts.
Relevance: Supports the broader claim that this kind of labor is well-recognized in academic literature as gendered, burdensome, and harmful — not just “messy house, messy brain.”
Applied Research in Quality of Life:
Study:Is Paid Inflexible Work Better than Unpaid Housework for Women’s Mental Health? (2022)
The authors argue and provide evidence that unpaid housework (which includes domestic tasks and more than just physical chores) is negatively linked to women’s mental health, partly because these efforts are culturally undervalued and invisible.
Relevance: This supports the idea that society often fails to recognize or reward invisible domestic labor — reinforcing that the stress women feel is not just from physical mess but from societal expectations.
Offer, S. (via summary in Smithsonian article).
Relevance: Demonstrates that the stress is not about amount of time thinking about family, but about how that thinking is gendered and emotionally taxing for women.
According to research by Shira Offer (Bar-Ilan University) reported in the Smithsonian, women and men spend equal time thinking about family matters, but women report significantly more negative emotional effects (stress, depression) from that cognitive labor.
How Do You Identify? Passion, Protest, Reproductive Identity, Mess & More? Submit Your Ideas, project, paper, art, proposal, research now thru 12/1/25. Don’t Be Afraid – Put Your Ideas Into the World w/MoM at USF.
Annual Call for Papers MoM Conference 2026
Attend Our Workshops, Book the Escape Womb Experience, Tour MoM
Holiday Giving- Merchandise That Moves You As A Thank You For Your Donation at MoM! Memberships, Guest Artists, Tee Shirts, Books & More: Visit Us at The Factory, St Pete 2606 Fairfield Ave. S St Pete
Women’s Museum St Pete at the Museum of Motherhood
Support the Mural – Aging Women All Around the World Starts in St Pete!
If you’ve been following MoM’s growth in St. Pete then you can celebrate along with us! So much to be proud of. The MoM Conference 2025, The MoM Art Auction, The We Build Tampa Bay initiative, Raisa Nosova’s beautiful gift of a custom mural onsite at The Factory, Health, Wellness and Education workshops, Black Maternal Health week exhibit and new friends, opportunities and recognition. We are grateful, indeed! Thanks Nanette Wiser for the great story this week in TBN. Wanna read more?Story’s here!
Now, get ready to ROCK with the 2nd annual local MaMaPaLooZa May 4th in partnership with FloridaRAMA at The Factory. This FREE Family festival features a music stage, discounted tickets to FloridaRAMA and MoM’s Escape Womb Experience, raffles, giveaways, sampling, health resources and kids activities that celebrate m/others and the people who love them. See you from 11AM – 4PM for a very cool one-of-a-kind day. FYI, MaMaPaLooZa began in NYC in 2003 and went on to pop up in 25 cities and 4 countries over the course of the next ten years. In 2011, attention turned to the Museum of Motherhood and its activities, though MaMaPaLooZa continued to thrive in a variety of locations. More about MaMaPaLooZa.
Mahray
The Tall Order
Girls Rock St Pete
Hex Appeal
AnaKitty
Delaran
The Rum Syndicate
Fine Line
BayFirst Financial
Pinellas Community Foundation
Rays/Rowdies
SDC Strategies
UP NEXT, MAY 8th (Artist Talk) & 10th (Second Saturday at MoM)
WHEN: May 8th and 10th, 2025
WHERE: May 8th 6:30-8PM OXH & Gallery Noir in the Kress Building 1624 E 7th Ave. Ybor City
May 10th 7PM MoM 2606 Fairfield Ave. S St Petersburg, FL Building 7, 2nd Saturday Art Walk
WHO:Julienne Doko is a French dance performer, teacher, and choreographer with roots in the Central African Republic and based in Copenhagen, Denmark. She studied a range of traditional and contemporary dance styles including ballet, jazz, Hip Hop, samba, West African and Afro-Brazilian. Her performance aims to further connect us across oceans, bodies and bridges. Registration opens May 4th for the artist talk and performance. Press Release.
Internships at MoM
Domi Pila – In her own words: I am an English graduate from the University of Cambridge interested in literary and visual storytelling within cultural heritage spaces, and more broadly. As a published poet and illustrator, I am especially fascinated by the difficulties of turning complex experiences into cohesive narratives, and enjoy exploring liminal spaces and characters in my work; I am also often drawn to mythical and religious representations of women, and themes surrounding mental health. Last year, I completed an internship at Ben Uri Gallery and Museum in London, where I developed my interest in the intersections of visual culture, history, place, and identity through supporting exhibitions and projects relating to Jewish, refugee, and immigrant artists in Britain. My personal highlights from this internship include assisting with the launch of a photography exhibition in partnership with the Centre for British Photography, and writing an article comparing the poetry practices of two artists for the museum’s online repository. In addition to this experience within a research unit and curatorial team, my curiosity surrounding the possibilities of interdisciplinary storytelling and research as a way of conveying experiences, histories, and omissions makes me especially excited to work with MoM’s archives. Alongside this internship, I am an English tutor and volunteer, and spend my free time on long nature walks, and drinking large quantities of coffee.
Chelsey Cabrera – In her own words: I am a sophomore Mechanical Engineering student at USF. I love to paint, crochet, and sew in my free time. I aim to use art, community service, research, and film to capture the current state of Reproductive Justice in the United States.
Chelsey helped with the MoM Conference at USF and is also assisting with some shift work at MoM while completing a special project during her time with us through May.
Have You Submitted To The Journal of Mother Studies (yet)?!
The Journal of Mother Studies (JourMS) is open for submissions through May 31. Submit Now! Mother Studies is a field of interdisciplinary study devoted to the issues, experiences, topics, history, and culture of m/others, mothering, and motherhood. Go to our menu, click the first drop down tab to find the current issue.
JourMS accepts submissions for scholarly articles, papers, and projects by academics and students, including fine art presentations and books for review annually. We especially encourage submissions from applicants and presenters at the MoM Academic and Arts Conference–on specific topics through the Museum of Motherhood– but are open to content on a wide variety of topics for the journal. Our annual CFP goes out each October. The conference takes place in March. A schedule can be found under ‘Guidelines‘.
See our funding partner’s Year-Endnewsletter FHSP with a feature on MoM. The museum’s reopening celebration will highlight its newest visitor experience, an escape room adventure aptly named MoM’s Escape Womb. Designed to delight visitors age 18 and above (younger with an accompanying parent or guardian), with clues and puzzles about the secrets of life while visitors explore the nuances of conception, gestation and birth. This 60-75-minute Escape Womb health and wellness journey is educational and fun. Read our Press Release here.
Ribbon Cutting
Join us tomorrow, Friday January 17th for a Ribbon Cutting with the St Pete Chamber of Commerce at our new space in The Factory at Noon. Peek at the Escape Womb. Play with us. See you soon. Directions are now here online.
Enjoy CAKE and sparkling water. Thanks to Emmanuel and 15th St Farms – another funded partner of Foundation for a Health St Pete.
Playdate for youngins at 10:30 AM and then Ribbon Cutting at Noon. See you soon!
The MoM Team X O X O
What’s Happening at MoM
Sunday: Amanda Bartles of Lactation Loop– Join us to socialize with other moms and families & take advantage of on the spot breastfeeding education and lactation support available to infants and toddlers. January 19th at noon with MoM. We’d love to make this a regular gathering so please do consider bringing conversations and hangouts w/mothers and others a regular part of our offerings. Please register in advanceusing this link
January 21st 6-7pm in observation of mentoring month. Jim Oliver (The Village Mentor) Co- Author in Repair of The Black Family Anthology. Event Title:“Guiding Hands: Mentorship for Mothers and Families.”Description: Explore how mentorship can empower mothers and families by providing guidance, support, and tools for success. This event highlights the power of shared experiences and community connections to navigate the challenges of parenting. INFO@MOMmuseum.org. RSVP please: INFO@MOMmuseum.org 877-711-6667.
Health, Wellness and Education events are commencing with Sierra Clark, Amanda Bartles and Courtney West empowered by our funding partner Foundation for a Health St. Pete. Events.
Thanks to Josh Naaman and Naaman Creative for helping with web updates!
Money, money, money – we need it now. We need it bad. We need it to continue paying our rent. If you have access to some, or know someone we are now in emergency mode for the remainder of the year. I know prices are high and people are suffering. All the more reason for just the right match or miracle!
As everyone knows, the city of St. Pete has experienced unprecedented hardship due to back to back storms that ravaged our homes and coastline. No one in Tampa Bay or on our team was unaffected. Each of us here in Pinellas County has friends, family members, businesses and personal property that have endured loss of services and in some cases, are even still without power and are uninhabitable.
Between our move in The Factory to a new location in Gallery Row and the other afore-mentioned challenges, our Escape Womb Experience has been delayed. Originally slated for October, the Escape Womb is now opening Sunday, Dec. 1st. .This is a ticketed tour with advance reservations required. Discover the secrets of life as you journey through our Escape Womb from conception to birth! Ticket sales open on November 21st. We hope you’ll go online and pre-book your ticket!
Our main space in Gallery Row at The Factory is open to the public Thursday – Saturday 12-6PM. Sunday is 12-3PM. Free, open, child-friendly play space,
The Museum of Motherhood is calling all scholars, artists, and community members for presentations and papers on the subject of ‘Fun, Sex, & Crying Out Loud’ 14-16, 2025 on campus at USF and onsite at MoM as well as online. The weekend conference will be followed by the MoM Art Auction on March 18, 2025. CFP is LIVE!
This year’s 20th Anniversary theme invites articles and art that support both the interrogation and levity necessary to navigate turbulent times. As well, it supports the subject matter elucidated in the Museum’s 2024-25 new ‘Escape Womb Experience’ and the theme of conception, gestation, and birth. Conference attendees will have the opportunity to experience this one-of-a-kind exhibit.
This international call for papers and projects invites artists, scholars, poets, sociologists, maternal psychologists, philosophers, anthropologists, women’s, sexuality, and gender studies professors, masculinity studies experts, birth-workers, doctors, researchers, students, and lay-people to share their work and tie it to this year’s theme. Works that are inclusive of all identities of birthing folx are encouraged. Deadline for submissions: Dec 15, 2024.[SUBMIT]
HEALTH WELLNESS AND EDUCATION AT MOM
The Health, Wellness and Education Committee at the Museum of Motherhood (MoM) is a dedicated team committed to enhancing the museum’s mission of exploring and celebrating the diverse experiences of being human.
Support Services: Offering assistance & education to those navigating the challenges of motherhood, fatherhood, and family
Program Development: Programs aim to provide enriching and informative experiences that highlight the multifaceted nature of m/otherhood including the Escape Womb Experience.
Community Outreach: The committee actively engage with the local community, schools, and organizations to promote the museum’s resources and offerings.
DO YOU HAVE AN EVENT YOU’D LIKE TO CREATE WITH THIS COMMITTEE? Contact us here!
MoM ART AUCTION
TheMoM Executive Board is pleased to present the 2nd MoM Art Auction, taking place (now rescheduled, as part of our Annual MoM Conference) March 18, 2025 from 6-8pm at The Spiral Staircase in Tampa, Florida in partnership with OXH Gallery. This event celebrates the art of motherhood with incredible works in a variety of mediums. Guests can sip bubbly, partake in sumptuous snacks and have the opportunity to bid on pieces of artwork from around the world while participating in the groundbreaking Tampa Bay affair or the HeART! Now part of our 20th anniversary Annual Academic and Arts MoM Conference preceding on March 14-16th. More about the auction here. Updates coming soon.
GIVE OR GET
Locally, ‘Give or Get’ is open for donations during MoM’s regular hours:
–Thursday-Sat 12-6PM
-Sunday 12-3PM
Visit our new location: 2606 Fairfield Ave. S Gallery Row: Building 7 Door B
Donation box inside. Child-friendly. Free play in a safe and educational environment.
When the headline “Strong Moms & Grandmothers Are the New Superheroes” crossed my desk recently from a prominent media outlet – I thought, “Yes, we ARE.”
There is a certain sense of achievement in some communities today. While we still have a long and challenging way to go in terms of women’s progress, many are celebrating the voice and strength of women on the national stage this week.
We cannot ignore the palpable excitement streaming through the airwaves as women, grandmothers, and women-of-color raise their allied voices. We cannot ignore that access to healthcare, safe birth, and children’s well-being is forefront on our minds. We cannot ignore our herstory or deny the anniversary of the ratification of women’s right to vote celebrated at the beginning of this week, Sunday, August 18th, representing 104 years of hard won American success.
Know Your HerStory
Wanna know more about world events in the context of the Suffragette movement and progress towards women’s right to vote in the USA? There are so many ways to learn more. Make a field trip to the home of the first Convention Days where Elizabeth Cady Stanton, Lucretia Mott and others argued for women’s equality in Seneca Falls, NY. Or, head to NYC where the musical SUFFS is on Broadway for an extended run. If you can’t get to New York, you can still watch the more serious accounting of the movement in England online with the movie Suffragette (2025) or the depiction of Alice Paul and Lucy Burns who risked their lives for freedom in IronJawed Angels (2004) online. Women’s voices are everywhere. Or you can visit the Museum of Motherhood in St. Petersburg, FL and learn more about activist Sojourner Truth and the journey towards justice as well as the four waves of women’s activism in the maternal sphere.
Celebrating MoM’s Successes
Last week also represents an incredible month of successes for the Museum of Motherhood with our active team of volunteers, including Sierra Clark, Barbara Lynch, and Mary Havlock. These achievers demonstrated a whole lotta grit and hard work securing three grants that demonstrate MoM’s success in our local community.
We are beyond pleased to announce the Foundation for a Healthy St. Pete and Orlando Health Bayfront Hospital recognized the Museum of Motherhood as a partner through their new Catalytic Capacity-Building Grant with funding for $10,000. We are so incredibly proud! Thank you Sierra Clark for your hard work on this.
We are also pleased to announce a 1k award from the St. Pete Arts Alliance with Barbara Lynch & HypatiaCollaborative for bookkeeping and IT (in-kind services) with champion Mary Havlock
Is Mother Made Art the “Last Taboo?”
The New York Times headline August 16th 2024 stated that “Camille Henrot has filled a gap in the canon by investigating the labor of motherhood.” The article discusses this ‘new’ art form of art made by women who are mothers and how not much has been done in this arena. The author of the article, Sasha Weiss, goes on to state that Henrot “scoured books and the internet for images of breast-pumping” and that “because [motherhood] is still stigmatized in visual art [she] resists characterizing work as being about motherhood.”
At this point in the article I wish very much that the artist had accessed the work of Jess Dobkin‘s lactation station (2006) or Sarah Irvine’s Infant Feeding Log, the student researched exhibit online at the Museum of Motherhood depicting the work of artists representing themselves breastfeeding, or even the photographic work of Renee Cox, Yo Mama (1992–94) who “decided I’m going to give you pregnancy in your face and found inspiration there.” My point being, that the art of motherhood is a developing field established and thriving over last thirty years.
When the author perpetuated the interviewed artist’s statement that she had “stumbled into a gap in art history… and that while there’s no shortage of representations of mothers with children, Henrot could find few of mothers on their own,” I moaned. Not from happiness but from despair.
My question to Sasha Weiss (and to Camille Henrot), is – How do we stop perpetuating the invisibility of the art made by mothers about motherhood by refusing to notice, research, and share the great body of work that currently exists all around the world? Every time an new article, exhibit, or piece of literature is published that refuses -or is oblivious to- the great accomplishments of literally hundreds (if not thousands) of women at this point in herstory, the patriarchal stereotype that legitimate art is only exhibited in specific types of galleries and museums is perpetuated.
The Museum of Motherhood (USA) has been devoted to art about art made by women about their reproductive experience and labor since 2003. Other organizations include: Procreate Project (England), Spilt Milk Gallery (Scotland), Artist Parent Network (USA), A.M.M.A.A. Archive for Mapping Mother Artists in Asia, and multiple artist residencies that support, collaborate and share the art made by mothers about their identity, experiences, and labor. I hope somehow we might shift this narrative together, starting NOW.
~Martha Joy Rose, Founder, Director MoM
Call For Submissions
The Art Exhibition and Auction of October 2024. Read more about submitting art here (by August 31) for this auction and exhibition sponsored by OXH Gallery with Committee Chair Odeta Xheka and organized by MoM’s Executive Board members Courtney Kessel, Deanna Barcelona, Barbara Lynch and Anna Lieggi. [LINK]
25th Anniversary MoM Annual Arts & Academic ConferenceCFP is LIVE! The Conference is being organized under the leadership of Brittany DeNucci and our Academic and Conference committee. The Museum of Motherhood is calling all scholars, artists, and community members for presentations and papers on the subject of ‘Fun, Sex, & Crying Out Loud’. [LINK]
New Internships
Welcome Kayla Foster, woman, mother, student. Her project will include archival research, ethnographic interviews, and collaboration efforts with the University of Oklahoma and the Museum of Motherhood to identify the cultural postpartum practices and traditions of Hispanic mothers in the Southwestern United States. The research will be multigenerational resulting in a final research paper focused on her findings and discuss the importance placed on traditional postpartum practices.
You may remember Whetley Earnest who came to us at the beginning of the summer as a local high school junior, interested in pre-med. Whetley is still with us, volunteering at MoM and we couldn’t be prouder! Here she is pictured with friend and ally Lucky Leroy who is currently featured in a solo exhibit at The Factory in St. Pete in partnership with FloridaRama. Leroy is our local ‘King of Art’ and his exhibit titled Florida Famous is up through August in the gallery next to the Museum of Motherhood. Come visit – You will love it!
Hold the Date
Experience some of St. Pete’s most popular museums during Arts Alive! Free Museum Day on Saturday, September 21, 2024. Select St. Pete museums will waive admission fees to allow the community to experience some of the fine art that makes St. Pete a premier arts destination. Arts Alive! Free Museum Day is produced by the City of St. Petersburg, the St. Petersburg Arts Alliance, and participating cultural organizations based on the currently paused National Smithsonian’s Free Museum Day. [LINK]
We will be moving to gallery row. But, not yet! We are awaiting word from our new landlords about the projected move date, but right now, it looks as if we will remain in our current location across from FloridaRama and DaddyCool until at least mid-September. We’ll keep you posted on progress for sure!
*M/other (noun): is a self-identified individual who is relationally connected through pregnancy, birth, surrogacy, genetics, care-work, and/or adoption. Historically female; they are one who divides (time, labor, emotion, and/or genetic material) and are paradoxically increased by the experience. Best explained by the equation: me + other (m/other) a mother is one who is connected, or disconnected, to another, genetically through procreative activity or linked through identity, care-work, and/or association. This special relational status incorporates the phenomenon that motherhood is otherhood, which is its most fundamental principle. While gender identity has gone through multiple identity shifts in recent years – and MoM is super supportive of all folx.
Mother-made art recognizes the works and endeavors of those making fine and performing arts who are mothers and those whose work is impacted by, or is focused on, experiences of pregnancy, birth, care-work, fertility, loss, adoption, fostering, surrogocy, and m/otherhood inclusive of all reproductive identities. This includes artistic interpretations highlighting the lifespan of makers of maternal experience, action, matrescence, and embodiment, within personal and relationally organized emotions, biologies, technologies, and behaviors. [LINK]
ANNOUNCING EVENTS – PROGRESS – RHYTHMS at MoM in August and Beyond.
Our team sure knows how to have fun. Last week we did a little research in St. Pete. We explored local escaper rooms for inspiration as our volunteers continue to design and plan for our future ‘Escape Womb Experience‘ – (Anticipated opening in October). We also celebrated the opening of friend and neighborLucky Leroy’sFlorida Famous exhibit in the gallery at The Factory. The exhibit is up through August. Make sure to experience it when you visit MoM in August this summer.
Yes, to those who have been following the news that I’ve been having some health hiccups this summer. I am moving much better now as is evidenced in these pictures. Yay Team! I aim to continue with the healing process. Also, on a recovery note – if you’ve seen the weather reports, Hurricane Debby just came raging through Pinellas County, and thankfully we are okay here with only one event cancellation on Monday and ourlactation event with Amanda Bartles on Wednesday, August 7th this week at 6PM, still happening! (Our hearts go out to anyone impacted by extreme weather everywhere). August is Breast Feeding Awareness Month: raising awareness about the challenges and rewards of chest feeding! Whichever direction you choose, MoM is here for you. We are in Florida – HOME OF THE ENDLESS SUMMER. It’s hot, hot, hot at the Museum of Motherhood where Christen Clifford’sINTERIORS: we’re all pink inside Exhibit is up all month along with a Womb of Our Own – Seeing RED and Molly Duffy’sLil Dicki.
Joy, Leroy, Barbara, Tracey, Mary, Sierra, Deanna, Allen
You may have heard the news that The Factory property – where MoM is currently located was recently sold to investors. The transition has been a bit chaotic with no firm news of our future spot in Gallery Row and many of the artists are also up in the air. We anticipated moving at the beginning of September. Now it may be later in September and we’ll let you know as soon as we have any news. The arts make everything great, so I hope St. Pete can keep the cool vibe going with all the recent gentrification of the city.
Meanwhile, we persevere with all our committees are meeting regularly. We still need onsite volunteers. If you have 3 hours a week and are local to St Petersburg we are looking for responsible volunteers to spend time with us as a docent in a beautiful, warm, and inviting space, MoM needs you! Even if you are only available once or twice a month – Sign up on our volunteer form here. MoM is open for regular hours throughout August.
Lots and Lots of Love – Enjoy the end of your summer,
JOY(Martha Joy Rose, Founder, Director)
Here’s the rest of the GOOD NEWS report – Keep reading below:
MoM Art Auction for the Museum of Motherhood
An upcoming MoM Art Auction is planned for October in Tampa with chairperson and arts gallery owner Odeta Xheka and our entire Executive Board spearheading the event. The goal is to raise funds for MoM and build on our permanent collection. The submission announcement is live and open for artists to submit through August. We will have a great big bash and a post auction exhibition. Please spread the word! In collaboration with OXH Gallery.
MoM was awarded three grants last week! We can’t wait to announce all the details – but we can spill that one of them was with the Arts Alliance of St Pete for their Pitch Competition. Congrats Barbara Lynch for that team success on behalf of all of us!
25th Anniversary MoM Annual Arts & Academic ConferenceCFP is LIVE! The Conference is being organized under the leadership of Brittany DeNucci and our Academic and Conference committee. Thanks to all and Deanna Barcelona and Mary have visited USF and are actively seeking to coordinate conference space on campus in 2025. Artists, Scholars, Activists, SUBMIT NOW!
Thanks to New Community Partner/Sponsor, BayFirst Financial. Headquartered in St. Petersburg, BayFirst Financial offers personal and business banking services, including checking & savings accounts, loans, and more. MoM thanks BayFirst Financial.
No summer slacking at MoM. We are in the planning stages for some exciting upcoming events:
First, the Joy Report: All hands on deck with MoM Operations running smoothly at The Factory in St. Pete. Visitor hours are: Thursday – Saturday 12-6 & Sunday 12-3PM. We are also open for special events or private bookings. Contact us if you are interested in organizing an event at MoM. Testimony from a visitor this week: “It’s unlike any other place. It’s a must see!”
We have PRIDE at MoM: Our June exhibits featuring Interiors: We are all pink inside by Christen Clifford is viewable onsite through August. So too, is Molly Duff-Clarke’s work, Lil’ Dicki- which has been acquired by the museum and is now part of our permanent collection.
Planning Stages for what will be our 2nd MoM Art Auction in October, 2024. We are very excited about this opportunity and our incredible partner (ta-da drumroll-announcement coming shortly). Our last one was 12 years ago in NYC. Did you know MoM’s permanent collection includes photo works that are also in the Tate Museum and the Museum of Modern Art, historic papers, and works by notable mother artists from around the world. Submissions for artists to participate are now open. Link to Call for Art.
The Journal of Mother Studies is in its editorial process with an online publication date of Sept. 1, 2024, thanks to all our awesome team members. JourMS.
The MoM Conference committee is actively planning next year’s 25th Annual Academic and Arts MoM Conference. Thanks to Committee Chair Brittany DeNucci & Team for doing a super stellar job organizing initiatives. The CFP is posted online here: Fun, Sex & Crying Out Loud, March 14-16, 2025. We are working on some of our community connections to make this year’s conference even more amazing than ever. Link to CFP.
Our Move from The Factory to Gallery Row is in the planning stages. Renderings for a vision of the new space are on our website here. We are waiting on the configuration of our next iteration of MoM. Our new grand opening will be after August 30th, on September 21st, which is free museum day in St. Pete.
Intern projects are ongoing: Social Media Calendar of posts by Xy with mentorship by Mary Noah, Collections data by Whetley with mentorship by Barbara Lynch, and Sex Ed classes by Eckerd Student Ariana are all in the works over the next 7 weeks.
Artist in Residence Laura Bissell, Scottish artist, author and scholar, is interviewing mother artists, exploring pregnancy loss for her book, working on a project on motherhood with Lucy Tyler, and begining a a book chapter called Adolescence and Matrescence: Seasons of the Witch for Demeter Press. The Matrescence Festival, being held in Exeter UK is a composition of expert speakers, vibrant discussion, deep feeling poetry and songs, art making, dancing, gathering to share, discuss and support this important subject, which Laura is attending and reporting from as part of her Remote Artist in Residency with MoM.
Thanks to New Community Partner/Sponsor, BayFirst Financial. Headquartered in St. Petersburg, BayFirst Financial offers personal and business banking services, including checking & savings accounts, loans, and more. MoM thanks BayFirst Financial.
JOIN Sierra for Sierra Speaks each Tuesday LIVE at 5PM EST with playback available Wednesdays! Sierra uses custom built tools which she shares with you for love, success and well-being. Sierra Speaks empowerment through core values and acts of sharing.
Sierra Speaks is LIVE 2nd/4th Tues. JOIN HER LIVE 5PM (EST) on Tuesdays, then episodes are available by Wednesday for archival viewing. Monthly online YOUTUBE with SIERRA
Amanda Bartles of Lactation Loop- Join us to socialize with other moms and families, meet local IBCLCs, & take advantage of on the spot breastfeeding education and lactation support.
August 5th at 10:30am & August 7th at 6pm with MoM. This year, the theme for National Breastfeeding Month is Nourish, Sustain, Thrive! At MoM we are pleased to host these two in-person events in collaboration with Amanda. Celebrate World Breastfeeding Week with.
Volunteer (we’re grateful if you can) or $17/hour
