My Chicago Podcast Interview
My Chicago Podcast, Carrie Rubin: I really enjoyed chatting with today’s entrepreneur, Maren Rosenberg from Escape Artistry. She’s really funny, a great storyteller and her theatre background is definitely apparent as she shares the story of her taking over Escape Artistry in 2015 and what all is involved in creating the six different escape rooms located at 1579 and 1342 N Milwaukee Avenue in Bucktown. I love her passion and appreciation for the arts and the artists that make Chicago so great.
P.S. Don’t you love the post-escape photo of my family completing the Railcar room? We were in the middle of saying “choo-choo” when it was taken so we all have pretty goofy expressions on our faces! LOL
In Maren Rosenberg’s interview we discuss:
- Her beginnings as an escape room zombie, then moving into management for the owner who started the first-ever escape room in Chicago in 2015, then ultimately taking over the business
- Challenges with the city and permitting/licensing because escape rooms were a new type of business
- Opening additional escape rooms with other investors in 2016 in a second location, right when the escape room market got saturated in Chicago
- Buying out the investors in 2019
- Navigating the covid related restrictions and finding new sources of revenue
- Scrambling to create a virtual experience and the challenges around that
- Maren’s second full-time job as the Co-Artistic Director of Uprising Theater
- What is involved in designing new escape rooms and what sets Escape Artistry apart from their competitors (there is a lot more involved than you’d realize!)
- Maren’s passion for supporting the arts and artists and why she encourages others to do so as well
Maren’s Nominations:
- Goldpoint Studio, a production studio run by Maren’s design partner Grace and Melissa
- Osorio Metals – Maren’s friend Adriana
- Nina D’Anger – Silhouette Artist and host of Nina Nightingale’s Charm School
Escape Artistry
The Time Gallery: 1342 N Milwaukee Ave, Chicago
The Railcar: Flatiron Arts Building, 1579 N. Milwaukee Ave. Ste 350, Chicago
773-789-9535
Choose Your Mission!
At Escape Artistry, our escape rooms are "Chicago Original." All 6 of our games are handcrafted by local Chicago artists with custom puzzle games you won't find anywhere else!
