Museum of Motherhood opens ‘Escape Womb’

In their first ribbon cutting of 2025, leaders from the St. Petersburg Area Chamber of Commerce cut the “umbilical cord” Friday on the Museum of Motherhood’s newest attraction: the “Escape Womb.”

The Museum of Motherhood (or MoM, for short), located in St. Pete’s Warehouse Arts District, is the country’s first and only exhibition and education center devoted to the art, science and “her-story” of women, mothers and families inclusive of all reproductive identities. The nonprofit museum’s new immersive escape room was created to transform the way visitors experience reproductive science and maternal history. 

“My son actually suggested the idea,” said Joy Rose, Founder and Director of the Museum of Motherhood. “We talk a lot philosophically about kids and parents and what it is to procreate, and he said to me years ago, ‘Mom, you should do an escape womb.’ So our whole team went to an escape room this summer, and this is what came out of it. Visitors have to learn about conception, gestation and birth to get the answers that unlock all the locks.”

At a ribbon cutting ceremony Friday, St. Petersburg Chamber of Commerce President and CEO Chris Steinocher (second from left), Museum of Motherhood Founder and Director Joy Rose (third from left), museum volunteers and board members cut a fabric “umbilical cord” to officially open the new Escape Womb exhibit.

“To know that St. Pete has the only museum of motherhood in the world… this is St. Pete,” said Chris Steinocher, St. Petersburg Chamber of Commerce President and CEO, at Friday’s ribbon cutting ceremony. “We know the community will embrace this because this is about the arts, this is about the science, and this is about love. Those are all things we care about in St. Pete.”

The interactive Escape Womb exhibit guides participants through various biological and emotional landscapes of human reproduction. Groups or individuals navigate puzzles representing conception, gestation and birth, with each stage presenting scientifically accurate challenges that require teamwork and critical thinking. Rose said the point of the Escape Womb, and the museum overall, is about education and emotion.

“I found a lot of people came in not understanding their bodies; they literally didn’t know where kids would come from, or there were mothers explaining things to their kids,” Rose explained. “So I’ve done a simplified version on our science wall about the birds and the bees that parents can use. Then, in the Escape Womb, it goes in-depth about conception, consent, IVF and all the other aspects of procreation.”

A display chronicles the birth journey leading into the Escape Womb exhibit.

Rose said during the exhibit’s soft launch in December, visitors were often moved to tears as feelings of loss, joy or gratitude came to the surface.

“The whole mission of MoM is to help people really come full circle as human beings, to a place of gratitude for our mothers, which is how we got to the planet, and Mother Earth, the place that we live, and really feel that deep sense of, ‘I’m alive because of this,’” Rose said. “We all have troubles. I had a really traumatic childhood. It doesn’t mean I don’t feel incredible gratitude for my life, and if you could feel a little bit of that, I think that’s being a full-circle human.”

The Museum of Motherhood is located inside Gallery Row at The Factory, 2606 Fairfield Ave. S., Building 7 Door B. Entrance to the museum is free and the Escape Womb is a ticketed attraction. Hours are Thursday through Saturday from 12-6 p.m. and Sunday from 12-3 p.m.

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