Who We Are
Ambrose Liu
Ambrose Liu is the founder and project director of the Olney Culture Lab. He brings a unique combination of skills and experiences to drive the community-centered process of envisioning and leveraging cultural assets towards positive neighborhood development. His background in strategic planning, program design, project management, fundraising, and event production informs all the initiatives that he helps to incubate and nurture.
His professional credits notably include working with:
Mural Arts Philadelphia (March 2015 to November 2017), Philadelphia Education Fund / Arts Rising Initiative (2010 to 2013), New Jersey Performing Arts Center (2002 to 2010), and Appel Farm Arts and Music Center (1994 to 1996).
Ambrose is also a practicing musician, composer and lyricist, and writer and trained in the visual arts.
Melissa Talley-Palmer
Melissa Talley-Palmer is a partner at Olney Culture Lab. Besides sitting on our Advisory Committee, Melissa has assisted in event design and coordination and stage management. She is an arts administrator with twenty-five years of experience in nonprofit community arts and education. In addition to Olney Culture Lab, Melissa works with the administrative team of the Village Education Tutors Foundation. She has previously worked for Stockton Rush Bartol Foundation, the Philadelphia Jazz Project, The Village of Arts & Humanities and Art Sanctuary. Melissa is an active dance practitioner and cultural movement artist who is a two-time recipient of the Leeway Art & Change grant. Her focus is in the preservation and promulgation of African- American forms of social dance, with a special emphasis on movement traditions grown in Philadelphia.
Wesley Brown
Wesley Brown is Olney Culture Lab’s resident videographer, web designer and all around graphics expert.
varissa mcmickens-blair
Varissa McMickens-Blair of NOWWellspring Consulting is a seasoned nonprofit and arts education professional with more than twenty (25) years of experience. Olney Culture Lab is working with her as organizational capacity building consultant through the Preserving Diverse Cultures program, Pennsylvania Council on the Arts.
Mrs. McMickens Blair recently served as Executive Director of the Roebling Museum, a small, up-and-coming history/heritage/STEAM museum in New Jersey.
Varissa has worked as an independent arts education consultant; served as Director of Greater Philadelphia’s ArtsRising initiative; worked as Executive Director of the DC Arts &Humanities Education Collaborative in Washington, DC; and developed regional replication program sites across the nation as Assistant Director of the Wolf Trap Institute for Early Learning Through the Arts.
Marquise Lindsey-bradley
Marquise Lindsey-Bradley (MLB) is a classically trained clarinetist who uses music as a foundation for leadership and service in his community. He made his solo debut at the Kimmel Center for the Performing Arts in 2019 as the winner of the All-City Concerto Competition, and has performed and programmed concerts in a wide variety of schools, churches, bars, private homes, and community gardens, respectively.
In addition to a busy performance schedule, MLB serves as the Creative Program Coordinator for the Olney Culture Lab and the Marketing Manager for Artcinia, an organization that presents professional performing arts concerts in neighborhoods throughout the city of Philadelphia. MLB earned his Bachelor of Music degree in Clarinet Performance from the Cleveland Institute of Music where he studied with Afendi Yusuf, Principal Clarinet of the Cleveland Orchestra. He also completed an academic minor in Business Management at Case Western Reserve University’s Weatherhead School of Management.
Chamor thomas
Chamor Thomas is a Communication professional with over 13 years’ experience. She started her career at NHS Human Services representing children in residential treatment facilities, and later transitioned to economic development at PIDC, connecting businesses to real estate and financial services, and telling their success stories. Recently she served as Communication Coordinator for Warrior Writers, a veterans non-profit, and Communication Consultant for the International Association for Performing Arts for Youth during its annual conference. Chamor’s current role is Communication Specialist for The Olney Embrace Project, where she’ll manage its communication strategy and engagement. Beyond her professional roles, Chamor manages Mamas’ Mark, a community group for moms.
June Lopez
June Lopez is an interdisciplinary artist: a freelance photographer, musician, sound designer, composer, and an experimentalist of Afro, Latin, jazz, techno, and electronic music. His work includes multimedia projects with acoustic and digital sounds, visuals, live performances, modular synthesis, and field recordings.
June Lopez has collaborated and worked with the legendary bassist Jamaaladeen Tacuma, The Last Poets, Brian Keith, Kurt Boyer, Richard Waller III, Max Martinez, Marco Berry aka Fantasy, Tony Catastrophe, Sean Dexter, Wadud, Philmorebrown, Malik B, cellist Monica McIntyre, Tommy Hogunz, and among others.
June Lopez will serve as sound designer and editor for all Olney Culture Lab projects.
Olney Culture Lab Advisory Committee
Professor Randy J. Gibson, Gibson School of Music & Arts
Wilhemina Gibson, Gibson School of Music & Arts
Paola Nogueras
Laurel Sweeney, Fisher Park Alliance
Shannon Smith & Mark Smith
Tania Y. Ramos Otón, Thurgood Marshall School
Ellissa Collier, Mural Arts Philadelphia
