Rockford’s Womanspacecelebrates its 40th anniversary this year and, by all accounts, is going strong.
Elaine Hirschenberger says she and co-founder Dorothy Bock came up with the idea for Womanspace in the early 1970s. The two members of the School Sisters of St. Francis, both high school art teachers, wanted to extend the lessons of humanism and personal growth they taught in their classes to adult women. And so, in 1975, Womanspace was born, offering art classes in a tiny one-story house on the north side of Rockford that was leased from their order. Hirschenberger says they had no idea what it would become.
“We had the vision of doing some educational stuff, but what has grown up here in Rockford had been much, much broader.”
They also had no idea that, 40 years later, it would still be going -- and growing.
Art classes are still at the core of what they do, but there are many more kinds of them. And the facility has expanded, adding studios for painting and ceramics to the original building. There is much more besides: book clubs, workshops, celebrations of different cultural traditions, and classes in holistic medicine, crystals and Reiki massage. There’s even a labyrinth built on adjacent land Womanspace acquired in the 1990s. And the list goes on.
Hirschenberger says the impetus for much of that growth has come from the members of Womanspace themselves:
“One person will come and, you know, be passionate about something that they share with us. And then we talk, and it’s like, gee, that’s a really good idea, let’s see if we can develop a program around that. And all of the sudden, there becomes a little nucleus of support and people who have energy around that topic.”
Hirschenberger says she figures around 20,000 people have been members at one time or another over the four decades of the non-profit’s existence, with 500 members at present. And new generations, with new ideas, are always coming in.
Pat Lai started taking art classes at Womanspace in 1999, and joined soon after. Eventually, she took a job with the organization. She isn’t surprised so many ideas became programs. She says Womanspace is like a big family, one that encourages individuals to share their ideas and their gifts, whatever they might be.
“You just feel like you’re so empowered," Lai says. "Nobody really cares whether you can or can’t do something. Nobody passes judgment on you. It’s almost like a safe place.”
While Womanspace was envisioned as a place for women, Hirschenberger says men have always been welcome. Some, like former Rockford mayor John McNamara, now with Rockford University, have become members, and even sat on its board.
McNamara credits Hirschenberger and Bock for creating the atmosphere of acceptance and encouragement that Pat Lai talked about. And McNamara says Womanspace has had an enormous impact on Rockford, setting a positive example for both individuals and the community by virtue of its programming and its collaborations. He cites an example of the latter from the 1990s, when there was no Catholic representative on the Rockford Interfaith Council:
“Dorothy Bock was asked to go by the members of the Interfaith Council, and she has gone and participated in that for years. And of course, that’s what they do in their programming. They’ll bring in a Buddhist this time, and someone from the Muslim mosque the next time.”
Hirschenberger says she’s proud of what Womanspace has done, and wants it to continue to grow - in size, diversity of offerings and in its outreach to the community - even as it stays true to the words of its mission: “connecting, empowering, creating and transforming the world - one woman at a time.”
