Staff Bios
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Maureen McMahon
Development Manager, Individual Giving & Special Events
Maureen started her career in Development with The MacDowell Colony in fall 2005 and joined LMCC in January 2008. As Development Manager, Individual Giving & Special Events, she manages and organizes special events, from The Downtown Dinner, LMCC's annual benefit which raises upwards of $1 million each year, to VIP and cultivation events for prospective donors, current funders, and other friends of LMCC. Additionally, she helps plan and execute LMCC’s individual donor campaigns and programs. Maureen graduated summa cum laude from Wellesley College in 2005 with a French major and Art History minor. She is co-chair of the New York Committee for the Wellesley College Friends of Art, an alumnae fundraising organization that supports the college's campus art museum. In addition to attending art and theatre events around the city, Maureen enjoys eating, reading, and writing about food.
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Marisa Olsen
Marketing & Communications Manager
Marisa considers herself a native New Yorker. She spent her first 10 years on the Upper West Side of Manhattan, and then made a brief detour to New Jersey. Marisa graduated from Connecticut College in 2006 with a BA in Art History. At Conn, she studied with Barbara Zabel, Joseph Alchermes, and Arnold Chang, and also curated a Contemporary Chinese Art exhibit from the Charles Chu collection. During a semester abroad, she studied with Libby Sheldon, famous art authenticator at University College London. During summers, she enjoyed working at the Visual Arts Center of New Jersey, the domogallery, and teaching ballet. She also had an internship in the Sotheby's Impressionist & Modern Art department. Upon graduating, Marisa worked at Sotheby's as an Editorial Assistant for Preview Magazine. After Sotheby's, Marisa spent a year in a Boston boutique staffing firm, where she honed her business and sales skills. Marisa is now thrilled to be back in New York City, where she enjoys visiting galleries, cooking gourmet meals, and working on her food blog, Les Foodités.
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Lauren Faria
Development Manager, Institutional Giving & Government Relations
Lauren brings several years of fundraising experience to her work as Development Manager with LMCC, having spent the better part of a decade working with arts and culture organizations in New York City. She previously held positions with The MacDowell Colony, Creative Capital, the Prospect Park Alliance, and Rooftop Films, and holds a BA in English from Wellesley College and a MA in Arts Administration from Teachers College, Columbia University. Originally from the suburbs of Boston, Lauren remains a die-hard Red Sox fan and otherwise loves to eat, scour thrift stores, take day trips, read good fiction, and sing, which she does as an alto with the Dessoff Choirs.
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Ariel Phillips
Development Associate
As Development Associate, Ariel supports all aspects of LMCC's fundraising efforts and also serves as Executive Assistant to the President. She earned a master's degree in Art History from NYU’s Institute of Fine Arts and received a BA in Art History from Yale University in 2006. Before going back to school for her MA, Ariel worked at Chelsea gallery Alexander and Bonin as a Gallery Assistant and Registrar. A former amateur dancer, Ariel is now an aspiring marathon runner who spends her free time running loops around Prospect Park, cooking, traveling, and cheering for her hometown LA sports teams.
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Morgan von Prelle Pecelli, PhD
Director of Development
Morgan von Prelle Pecelli, PhD is a curator, producer, anthropologist and occasional performing artist who has been working in New York City’s contemporary performance sector since 1999. Before joining LMCC, she served as Director of Development for Performance Space 122. She also served as Co-curator (10 & 09) and Dramaturg (08) for the Prelude Festival. She was Artistic and Development Director for Emerging Artists at 3LD Art & Technology Center from 2007 - 2008. She is on the Board of Directors of the Ontological-Hysteric Theater where she was the Managing and Programming Director from 2004 – 2006. In 2005, she started the Ontological-Hysteric Incubator, through which she curated and produced festivals and residencies in 2005 and 2006. Since 2002, she has also operated as The Lost Notebook, an entity dedicated to advocating on behalf of and supporting artists working in the contemporary sector . The last few years have included appearances on stage in the Richard Foreman/John Zorn Opera “Astronome” at the Ontological Theater in NYC, in SU-EN’s large-scale butoh piece "Linné Gala Event 2007: New Life" in Uppsalla Sweden, and a solo butoh piece "The Bell Girl" performed at the CAVE Artspace in Brooklyn. In 2010, she completed her PhD in Anthropology at Columbia University. The title of her dissertation was “Tendrils of Lost Time and the Self: An Aesthetic Anthropology of New York City’s “Post”-Avant-Garde”. Part art-historical document, part socio-cultural post-industrial anthropology, her dissertation took a critical look at the socio-economic conditions of a generation of artists coming of professional ‘age’ during the decade from 1999 to 2009, following in the wake of the American Avant-Garde theatrical and performance artists of the 1970s and 80s, and living at the pioneering-aesthetic edges of New York City's cultural life, urban landscapes, hybrid economies, and fragmented histories. While completing her dissertation at Columbia, she taught courses on Anarchistic Anthropology and Western ethics and political theory. Before attending Columbia, she received an MA from the University of Chicago, was a Fulbright Scholar in Germany, received a BA from Colby College, and is a proud alumna of Philips Academy (Andover).
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Paulie Heenan
Systems Administrator
Prior to relocating to NYC in July 2004, Paulie was a professional musician and audio engineer in Madison, WI. Working in recording studios for many years, he honed his technical skills on a variety of platforms - Macintosh, PC, and 2” tape machines. For five years, Paulie has been a professional computer consultant / systems administrator- working on projects ranging in size from the individual level up to medium sized enterprise environments. Since joining LMCC in April 2008, he has kept the office systems running smoothly and efficiently. He likes dogs, guitars, and Brooklyn.
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Andrew Horwitz
Director of Public Programs
Andrew Horwitz is a curator and producer based in NYC. He has worked as producer at Performance Space 122 and as curator of PRELUDE, a festival of contemporary theater and performance at the Martin E. Segal Theater Center of the Graduate Center at CUNY. He has served on many panels and taught career development workshops at artist service organization The Field. He is the founder and editor of Culturebot.org, a website devoted to arts, culture and ideas.
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Danielle King
Program Manager, Public Programs
A native New Orleanian, Danielle King is a creative producer and arts administrator. Prior to joining the LMCC team in 2012, she was a stage manager for theaters throughout New York and regionally, including The Public Theater, Playwrights Horizons, SoHo Rep, and Actors Theatre of Louisville, and worked with companies like Clubbed Thumb, SITI Company, 13P, and P73. She also spent six summers facilitating new play development at the Eugene O'Neill Theater Center's National Playwrights Conference. Danielle is passionate about interdisciplinary work, art in nontraditional spaces, and promoting dialogue and innovative collaboration between visual and performing artists. She holds a B.F.A. from NYU's Tisch School of the Arts and a M.A. in Arts Administration from Columbia University.
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Anne Lai
Finance & Operations Associate
Anne Lai joined LMCC in 2011. She has worked in the archives at the Felix Gonzalez-Torres Foundation. She received a BFA in Art, Media and Technology from the Photography program at Parsons the New School of Design. She is an artist interested in working on outdated modes of communication.
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Sophie Lam
Webmaster / Digital Media Associate
Sophie Lam has worked in the film and interactive/new media industries as a researcher, project coordinator, online editor, front-end web developer, and producer of multimedia content. She holds a B.A in Film Studies from Columbia University, an M.A in Media Studies from the New School, and is currently an Ed.D student in Communication and Education at Teachers College, Columbia University. Her professional research interests include Internet sociality, geotechnologies in service of geography education, and interactive learning environments. Sophie has lived in Tianjin, China; Berlin, Germany; and Brooklyn. An active musician, Sophie has performed with her improvisation-based band FORMA at MoMA PS1, New Museum, Issue Project Room, Le Poisson Rouge, the Stone, and in venues outside of NYC.
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Melissa Levin
Director of Artist Residencies
Melissa Levin joined LMCC in 2005 and is currently the Director of Artist Residencies. Previously, she has worked at Artforum International Magazine, Andrea Rosen Gallery, and The Whitney Museum of American Art. She has participated in panels at Baruch College, Dumbo Arts Center, Lower East Side Print Shop, Center for Book Arts, and Elizabeth Foundation for the Arts; and lectured at SMFA, NYU, Parsons: The New School for Design, and The Cleveland Institute of Art. Melissa is also an independent curator and writer and has curated exhibitions at P.S. 1 Contemporary Art Center, Cuchifritos Gallery, ISE Cultural Foundation, Andrea Rosen Gallery, LMCC, and Taylor De Cordoba Gallery, Los Angeles. Melissa received her BA with honors in Visual Art and Art History from Barnard College.
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Santino Lo
Production Assistant, Public Programs
Graduated from SUNY Purchase College '11, Santino Lo has been active both as a freelance tuba player in New York and an arts administrator. Since moving to New York City in 2007, Santino interned and worked for arts institutions such as New York City Opera, Arts & Business Council of New York, Manhattan New Music Project, as well as Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts.
In college, Santino won the President’s Award at SUNY Purchase for his work through the Arts Management program, Purchase Student Government President’s Award for Community Leadership, Presser Scholarship Award for his musical excellence, and multiple awards from the Office of Residential Life for his involvement in the community during his time as a Resident Assistant. Santino was also appointed as the student representative in SUNY Purchase College’s Task Force on Arts Programming and Presentation on campus.
Inspired by the idea of Gesamtkunstzwerk by Richard Wagner - the ultimate art form achieved by combining all the arts discipline - Santino has put the idea into practice and created his first full production of MADArt: Life After Dreams upon graduation, and soon after started the artist collective – MADArt Creative.
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Clare McNulty
Program Associate, Artist Residencies
Clare McNulty first joined LMCC as an artistic associate of Swing Space artist-in-residence Sinking Ship Productions. An independent theater artist, actress and film producer, Clare has worked in San Francisco and New York with Cutting Ball Theatre Company, African American Shakespeare Company, Ars Nova, Columbia's Graduate School of Theater Arts, Truffle Theatre Company, International WOW Company, Ensemble Studio Theater, and the NYU Graduate Film Program. She remains an artistic associate of Sinking Ship Productions and frequently collaborates with film writer/director Sarah-Violet Bliss. She received her BA with honors in Theater and Comparative Politics from Oberlin College.
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Sam Miller
President
A devoted advocate for the arts, Sam Miller brings a nationally recognized profile to the organization. Most recently, he spent five years as President of Leveraging Investments in Creativity (LINC), developing efforts centered on increasing direct support for artists. Prior to his work at LINC, Miller was Executive Director of the New England Foundation for the Arts (NEFA) for ten years. Prior to NEFA, Miller was at the Jacob’s Pillow Dance Festival where he served as President and Executive Director. He serves as President of the Board of LINC, as Director of the Institute for Curatorial Practice in Performance (ICPP) at Wesleyan University, and on the Advisory Board of ODC/San Francisco and on the Board of Amrita Performing Arts in Phnom Penh.
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Shin Otake
Production Coordinator, Public Programs
After working as a production assistant on the 2011 River to River Festival, Shin has returned this season as the production coordinator for LMCC's Public Programs. He holds a B.A. from Wesleyan University in American Studies, with a concentration in media and culture studies. Shin has worked at Leveraging Investments in Creativity (LINC), a ten-year national initiative to improve the conditions for artists through grants and services, and has also been an active DJ and producer since 2009. On the side, Shin is currently working on launching his music collective Camp&Street, where he works on artist development and management.
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Prachi Patankar
Program Manager, Grants & Services
Prachi Patankar joined the Lower Manhattan Cultural Council to coordinate LMCC's regranting and professional development programs. Prior to joining LMCC, Prachi worked at the Tenement Museum as their Education Associate, where she curated the Tenement Windows Arts program bringing contemporary artists in dialogue with new immigrants through the Shared Journeys (ESOL) program. She also managed Kitchen Conversations, a daily public dialogue Program and the monthly immigration film series at the Museum. Prachi has a MA from New York University in International Education and Communications. She was born and brought up in India and moved to the United States at the age of sixteen. After receiving her BA from Swarthmore College in 2000, she went back to India where she established a school for children of people displaced by dams. She is a founding member of the 3rd I New York collective, a monthly film and music salon that showcases the works of South Asian independent filmmakers. In addition, she has worked in various capacities with media-focused nonprofits like POV and Youth Channel, as well as those focusing on social justice issues such as WITNESS, CHHAYA, and DRUM (Desis Rising Up and Moving).
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William Penrose
Program Manager, Artist Residencies
Will, having joined LMCC in May 2010, is an advocate for providing direct support to artists of all disciplines. His background includes working at the Scottsdale Cultural Council for both Scottsdale Public Art and the Scottsdale Museum of Contemporary Art. Upon relocating to New York, Will was the registrar at Sundaram Tagore Gallery based in Chelsea and with locations in Los Angeles and Hong Kong. Additionally, he does research on living artists. As the Project Coordinator at the Research Center for Arts and Culture, he managed and was a contributing author to Still Kicking: Aging Performing Artists in NYC and LA Metro Areas, a research project that documented the artistic lives and social needs of performing artists aged 62 and older in New York City and Los Angeles. Will holds an MA in Arts Administration from Columbia University, as well as a BS in Economics and a BFA in Drawing from the Barrett Honors College at Arizona State University.
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Nicola Salvage
Director of Marketing & Communications
Nicola joins LMCC from the River To River Festival, where she developed and implemented the marketing and communications strategy for the leading summer arts festival. Prior to that, she worked as Assistant Marketing Director at the Film Society of Lincoln Center overseeing campaigns for major film series including the New York Film Festival, New Directors/New Films, and the Human Rights Watch International Film Festival. When Nicola first arrived in New York, she worked as a Communications Manager handling publicity for US broadcast clients for an international marketing agency, and later for Siemens Global Media & Entertainment. In addition, she worked as a freelance writer covering the film and TV industry for UK magazines. She also spent several years working for leading media companies in London including the BBC.
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Diego Segalini
Vice President
A Brooklyn native who now calls the Lower East Side home, Diego is a first generation Italian-American artist and arts administrator. Prior to joining LMCC in May 2007, Diego spent three years as Managing Director of 3-Legged Dog Media and Theater Group where he played a pivotal role in fundraising, financial planning and project management to establish a new multi-million dollar Art & Technology Center in Lower Manhattan. Most recently he worked for Nonprofit Finance Fund where he was responsible for performing financial and organizational analyses for clients nationwide. Diego has designed dozens of shows in his career from Shakespeare to Sartre to musical standards and continues to pursue his artistic endeavors as an independent producer and production designer for stage, film and special events. He holds a double B.A. in Drama and Mathematics from Vassar College and is a proud alum of Stuyvesant High School.
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Kay Takeda
Director of Grants & Services
Kay joined the Council in March 2005 to develop and oversee the Council’s downtown-focused cultural grants, borough-wide grant programs and artist services. Prior to joining the staff, she served for five years as Program Manager of the Advised Funds and Regranting Programs division at Arts International, where she oversaw a roster of national-level grant programs providing support for visual and performing artists working internationally. Her background includes three years with Snug Harbor Cultural Center in Staten Island, New York as Assistant Director of Visual Arts, where she managed contemporary art exhibitions and public programs as well as a studio program that provided workspace and professional development opportunities for visual artists. She serves on the Board of Directors of Goliath Visual Space in Brooklyn.
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Haowen Wang
Program Manager, Grants & Services
Haowen Wang is a Taiwan native, a New Zealand citizen and a bogus New Yorker living in New Jersey. Prior to joining LMCC, Haowen worked as the General Manager for Ping Chong & Company, the internationally recognized experimental theatre company that supports the works of avant-garde theatre director, Ping Chong. Other experiences include working at the Asian American Arts Alliance where he implemented a two-year regrants program serving the artists and arts groups of the Manhattan Chinatown area, as well as administering several other programs that serve Asian American artists and arts groups in New York City, many of whom he still works with in different capacities. His most memorable experience was when he toured nationally in Taiwan as an actor in a children’s theatre company during college years; he had to quit so he can finish his degree. Haowen holds a MA in Performance Studies at NYU. He is a Christian and enjoys traveling everywhere with his wife.
