EMPOWERING YOUTH VOICE YOUR SOUL

We are MeMA-Music:
Motivate and Encourage Music Appreciation

Designed for educators, MeMA-Music offers a stimulating and engaging social justice arts-integrated program for middle and high school students to examine the role of music during the 1960s-1970s for generating equality, peace, and social movements for change. Students learn how activism in the past helped seek justice, and how music was used as a tool to help change society. They make connections to current music and social justice issues today and learn the difference between talking about an issue and actually promoting change by amplifying their voices.

The Challenge: Meeting Students Needs

In today’s multicultural global society, teachers are faced with the struggles of developing and/or reframing curricula to be more culturally responsive, creatively engaging, and help all students succeed academically while working within the context of mandated state standards, testing, and rote learning. Research has shown the profound challenges faced by educators to include arts-integrated lesson plans and activities that not only focus upon and improve students’ achievement levels, self-esteem, social awareness, and civic participation, but facilitate conversations through a multicultural lens, and build life skills vital for degree completion and success working in the 21st century. Students today need an education that:

  • Encourages student voice—a supportive environment
  • Is relevant and responsive to students’ culture, home lives, and identity
  • Empowers youth for active citizenship
  • Inspires critical thinking
  • Prepares youth for life and work
  • Promotes confidence and builds self-esteem
  • Nurtures students’ creativity
  • Stimulates students’ curiosity
  • Motivates students to learn
  • Makes history come alive in the classroom

WE'VE GOT YOUR BACK

Arts-Integrated

MeMA offers educators a stimulating and engaging multidisciplinary academic program grounded in social justice that integrates art, music, social studies, technology, civics, and social-emotional learning for youth to examine the use and impact of the arts in creating social change.

Culturally Engaging

MeMA fosters young peoples’ appreciation of our multicultural society, so they explore, understand, and embrace diversity, in order to overcome cross-cultural prejudice, respect tolerance, and preserve and shape their own identity and culture.

Student Voices

By sharing the history of youth who have fought for the betterment of society through artistic expression, MeMA encourages students to create and voice their own unique and powerful messages that articulate the change(s) that they themselves envision for the world.

HOW WE ROCK & ROLL

Remember when music served as a rallying call for young people who led the fight for cultural and political change?

MeMA-Music teaches youth to recognize the power of music as a voice for social justice in our world, by integrating music and lyrics with social studies through themes looking at liberation struggles, and socio-political movements from the past to the present. Students examine ways in which music and art have served as an instrument for expressing social change, shifting public opinion, conceptions of equality, and political activism and civic engagement–while increasing academic achievement. Our lesson plans and activities engage students in real-life issues, relate them to their personal lives, and make connections to the lives of other students from diverse cultures.

OUR CONCEPT

Our program unit “Voice Your Soul” exposes youth to many of music’s most influential songs and recording artists, with a focus on folk, soul, rock, and blues from the youth movement during the 1960s and 70s. During this time of social upheaval, young people came together in harmony to fight for African American and Chicano Civil Rights, women’s rights, gay rights, and an end to the Vietnam War. Music was what inspired young people to take collective action, to stand up for their beliefs, and change the world around them; we aim to inspire the same sense of purpose and power in today’s young people.

Applying what they learn about how young people have fought for social justice in the past and present, students create their own Messages of Change projects using various art forms that draw on their own interests and strengths—media arts, visual artwork, writing—songs, rap, poetry, skits— to express themselves in their own personal way.  Check out our student project snippets

Meet Our Founder, Jeanne Warsaw-Gazga

Chicago native Jeanne Warsaw-Gazga’s career experience in the music business provides her with unique insight into the world of popular music and how music can be a voice for change.  She has spent over 20 years working in the music industry, marketing, and promoting multi-million dollar international recording artists such as Janet Jackson, David Bowie, The Rolling Stones, Lenny Kravitz, and hundreds more. Jeanne‘s music industry career began with legendary Chicago retail chain Rose Records, for whom she worked as a buyer. She quickly rose to work in promotion and marketing for Sony Records and dedicated herself to the music business ever since, having served as Promotion and Marketing Director for RCA/BMG, Elektra/Warner Bros., and Virgin/EMI. During that time, Jeanne actively worked with recording artists to bring their music to the community and into schools to speak with young people about social issues and how music can be a voice for change. Jeanne’s professional network provides a connection to active musicians, and artist professionals in the community.