Who We Are

For over a decade, MeMA-Music has delivered transformative, arts-integrated programs to youth across Chicago. We use powerful, message-driven music to engage young people in history, civics, literacy, and personal growth. By connecting timeless songs to themes of human experience and expression, we spark curiosity, encourage reflection, and deepen understanding.

Participants explore lyrics as storytelling, discovering how music captures the spirit, struggles, and triumphs of its time. At the same time, they find their own voice through creative projects, discussion, and collaborative learning.

We educate youth in underserved communities through the power of music, helping them build literacy and academic skills, gain confidence, and better understand the world around them.

MeMA-Music consistently earns praise from students, teachers, principals, parents, and community leaders. Youth who may rarely participate in other activities begin to open up, reflect deeply, and engage fully—whether in classrooms or community spaces. Many express that they don’t want the program to end, because what they gain goes far beyond the session itself: they discover their voice, their agency, and a clearer path toward a brighter future.

MeMA-Music grew from a simple but powerful idea: that music can do more than entertain—it can teach, connect, and inspire young people to see themselves as thinkers, creators, and contributors.

Since its founding, MeMA-Music has evolved into a trusted arts-integrated education organization serving youth across Chicago. Our programs meet young people where they are—academically, emotionally, and culturally—using meaningful music as a bridge to literacy, historical awareness, civic understanding, and self-expression.

Over the years, we have partnered with schools and community organizations to create learning spaces where students feel engaged, heard, and valued. In these spaces, music becomes a starting point for dialogue, reflection, and creativity. Youth explore how artists have used songs to reflect their times and share lived experiences, then apply those insights to their own writing, discussions, and creative work.

The name MeMA reflects both purpose and heart. It stands for Motive and Encourage Music Appreciation and was also the nickname Jeanne Warsaw’s mother used for her grandchildren—a reminder that learning flourishes in environments rooted in encouragement, care, and belief in young people’s potential.

What began as a response to shrinking access to the arts has grown into a sustained commitment to youth development. Today, MeMA-Music continues to provide consistent, high-quality programming in schools and community spaces, helping young people build skills, confidence, and agency—empowering them to understand the world around them and their place within it.

A trailblazer in the music industry, Jeanne Warsaw, a Chicago native, has over 25 years of experience working with iconic artists, including Janet Jackson, David Bowie, The Rolling Stones, Isaac Hayes, and Lenny Kravitz.

She began her career at the legendary Chicago retailer Rose Records as a buyer and quickly advanced to become a Radio Promotion Assistant for Sony Records in New York. Over the years, Jeanne held leadership roles as Executive Promotion & Marketing Director for Sony Music, RCA, Elektra/Warner Bros., and Virgin Records, and later founded her own consulting company, JW Promotions.

Jeanne’s extensive experience in the music industry gives her unique insight into the power of music as a vehicle for cultural expression and social change. After leaving the corporate music world, she founded MeMA-Music, Inc., a nonprofit dedicated to inspiring and empowering Chicago youth in underserved neighborhoods. Through programs that use music with powerful messages, Jeanne helps young people build literacy, deepen historical awareness, spark civic understanding, and see their own potential to shape their communities and futures. For the past 14 years, MeMA-Music has provided education, mentorship, and safe creative spaces in schools and community centers, helping youth find their voice, share their stories, and envision brighter futures through the power of music.