It's 2026, and I'm honing in on what I have to offer as an elder and a lifelong musician, activist, community-builder, and rabble-rouser. Also, I'd like to share some of my musical and activist history & reflections here. Stay tuned...
Jeanne Mackey offers a rare blend of emotional intensity, wry humor, and global consciousness in her musical performances and teaching. As one listener put it: "I never cease to be amazed by the variety of Jeanne' s repertoire, her ability to match the appropriate song to the occasion, and the strong common bond she strikes with her audience."
In addition to musical performances, Jeanne leads workshops and offers talks on a range of topics:
Privilege, Power, & Difference (based on the work of Allan Johnson)
Social Identity (based on Intergroup Dialogue)
Group Dynamics in Social Change and Spiritual Groups
The Stories We Tell Ourselves (personal and cultural narratives)
Joanna Macy's Truth Mandala (ceremony for expressing grief for the state of our world)
Jeanne Mackey was half of a socialist feminist musical duo in the mid-1970s. Throughout the 1980s, she performed with Lifeline, a four-woman rock band that played at conferences, demonstrations, women's music festivals, and labor union events in the Washington, D.C. area and nationwide.
Jeanne became a clinical social worker in the mid-90s, eventually landing in a part-time tech trainer job at the University of Michigan. She developed and delivered training as part of the U-M DEI program before the program was dismantled. She has co-directed the multi-ethnic choral group Sacred Song and produced various benefits, including Howard Zinn's "Voices of People's History of the United States." Ann Arbor bands include What's Inside, Songcatchers, and Harmony Bones. Currently, she sings with and provides tech support for her local Singing Resistance group, does tech support for a local immigrant rights organization, engages in intergroup dialogue and can be found making giant bubbles at various local events.