Our Story
MeMA-Music grew from a simple but powerful idea: music can do more than entertain; it can teach, connect, and inspire people to see themselves as thinkers, creators, and contributors.
Since its founding, MeMA-Music has evolved into a trusted arts-integrated nonprofit serving youth, young adults, and adults across Chicago. Our programs use meaningful music as a bridge to literacy, critical thinking, civic understanding, communication, and purposeful self-expression, meeting participants where they are and creating opportunities for learning, reflection, and growth.
Through partnerships with schools, community organizations, and specialized groups, we create supportive spaces where participants feel engaged, heard, and valued. Music becomes a starting point for dialogue, reflection, and creativity as participants explore how artists use songs to express ideas, reflect their times, and share lived experiences. They then apply those insights through discussion, writing, and original creative projects.
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 growth flourishes in environments rooted in encouragement, care, and belief in each person’s potential.
What began as a response to shrinking access to the arts has grown into a long-term commitment to learning and human development. Today, MeMA-Music continues to provide high-quality programming that helps participants build skills, confidence, and agency while offering meaningful opportunities for reflection, creative expression, and personal growth. For those navigating trauma, including veterans, that same approach can provide a supportive space for healing, resilience, and connection.
Through music, engagement becomes more than an activity; it becomes a pathway to finding one’s voice, honoring personal stories, and imagining new possibilities for the future.
Our Approach
Connecting literacy, history, society, and lived experience through meaningful music.
MeMA participants analyzing conscious music lyrics
MeMA participants performing an original song at the student showcase
Music has the power to engage, inspire, and create meaningful opportunities for learning. At MeMA-Music, participants explore the meaning in music through lyric analysis, guided discussion, reflection, and creative expression.
Through arts-integrated learning experiences, participants strengthen literacy, critical thinking, communication, and civic understanding while exploring history, society, and diverse perspectives. By connecting music to lived experience, storytelling, and emotion, they develop greater self-awareness and a deeper understanding of themselves and the world around them.
Our approach creates supportive environments where participants build confidence, express themselves creatively, and discover new ways to communicate and connect. For those navigating trauma, including veterans, these experiences can also provide meaningful opportunities for reflection, resilience, and healing
Trusted by Schools, Community Organizations, and Funders
For 14 years, MeMA-Music has delivered long-term, arts-integrated residencies engaging youth and young adults across Chicago.
Sustained residencies that engage participants deeply over multiple years
Partnerships with educators and community leaders to create meaningful learning experiences
Collaboration with professional artists and creative practitioners to bring real-world expertise into programs
Supported by foundations and donors committed to arts and youth development
Under her leadership, MeMA-Music has spent more than a decade partnering with schools and community organizations across Chicago to bring music-based learning to youth and young adults.
Meet Our Founder – Jeanne Warsaw
A trailblazer in the music industry, Jeanne Warsaw, a Chicago native, brings more than 20 years of experience working with iconic artists, including Janet Jackson, David Bowie, The Rolling Stones, Isaac Hayes, Lenny Kravitz, and many others.
She began her career at the legendary Chicago music retailer Rose Records before joining Sony Records in New York as a Radio Promotion Assistant. Over the years, Jeanne held executive promotion and marketing leadership positions with Sony Music, RCA, Elektra/Warner Bros., and Virgin Records before founding her own consulting company, JW Promotions.
Throughout her career, Jeanne witnessed the power of music to capture attention, communicate ideas, and bring people together. That experience inspired her to establish MeMA-Music, Inc., a nonprofit dedicated to expanding educational and creative opportunities for youth and adults in underserved communities through innovative, music-centered programming.
For more than 14 years, Jeanne has developed original curricula and transformative arts-integrated programs that use meaningful music and creative expression to strengthen literacy, communication, critical thinking, and self-awareness. Participants explore history, society, civic understanding, and contemporary issues through music while developing new perspectives and a deeper understanding of themselves and the world around them.
Through partnerships with schools and community organizations across Chicago, Jeanne has helped create engaging learning experiences that encourage reflection, creativity, and meaningful dialogue while empowering participants to recognize their potential and contribute to their communities. Her work also includes trauma-informed programming for youth and adults, including veterans, providing supportive spaces for reflection, resilience, and personal growth through music.
Our Partners
