Mamapalooza

Mamapalooza is an international organization and community, based in the United States, that promotes the empowerment of mothers in the arts. Key to the mission of Mamapalooza is the necessary redefinition and validation of postmodern motherhood and the notion that mothers can find powerful tools of self-expression in creative endeavors such as music, craft, dance, theater, visual art, stand-up comedy, and writing.

Mamapalooza began in 2002, as a music festival to celebrate motherhood and mothers in the arts. To this day, it remains the only festival of its kind. The founder of the festival was Joy Rose, a mother of four and the lead singer of the rock band Housewives on Prozac, who is now the organization's president and guide.

The impetus for the festival grew out of the mom-rock movement of the late 1990s and early 2000s, with the original idea to create a community of musical mothers to perform for and support each other. Many of these women had put their artistic passion aside in order to raise children, and welcomed the opportunity to reclaim their artistic selves. The first Mamapalooza Festival, held in New York City, consisted of 10 women in nine acts, performing for one night only. However, the need for such a community was so great that the idea has grown beyond music to include [Page 682]other arts, and the local festival has transformed into an international phenomenon.

Six years later, the now-annual Mamapalooza Festival, featuring mother artists of every kind (musicians, poets, craftspeople, comics, and more) takes place every May, on and around Mother's Day, and has expanded beyond the United States to countries including Australia, Canada, and Great Britain. Participants include mothers who are new to the arts, as well as those who had extensive artistic experience before they became mothers. Bands that have been featured in Mamapalooza festival events represent every musical genre and have included Mydols, MotherLode Trio, Placenta, Candy Band, MomsOn-TheEdge, Frump, and of course, Housewives on Prozac. These performers sing about all of the high and low points of motherhood in songs with titles such as Eat Your Damn Spaghetti, Vasectomy, and Bad Mutha Blues. Mamapalooza events draw thousands of audience members in each country.