Ross Brown: The man behind the mask(s)

Irrepressible maker of masks, puppets and all things silly gets serious about life

 Hello, I'm Ross Brown. I’ve been in Newcastle in 30 years. Before that I lived in the north west coast of the USA. I’m one of those lucky guys who had parents with a sense of adventure and curiosity about the world and enough money to explore it. I spent the first five years of my life in Turkey as my dad worked there and we returned there again when I was 12 for a year. When I was 23 my parents organised to live in New Zealand and Australia for six months each, I came along and I’ve been here ever since. We travelled through India and Indonesia on the way.

 I inherited a love of travel and a picture of the world, which included a very real third world with poverty and crowded slums. This led to my belief that I’m one of the privileged ones and with the knowledge I’ve got I should do something to try and change the world for the better.

 Australia has been good to me, supporting me as an Artist and as a family man. I’m grateful to be able to live in this lucky country. I make my living as an Artist and Performer and my two children are now 20 and 24. I am keen for the earth to be in good shape for their lives and their children’s lives.

 I believe in living smartly and having a good time, so I learned to team up with others to make a difference. Now I’m involved in a few world-changing groups including Permaculture Hunter and Transition Newcastle. Working with people is fun, sometimes it’s hard and there are lessons to learn but those challenges can be fun.

I’m very keen to support groups that model and promote healthy sustainable lifestyles with positive messages. I value the work done by activists who oppose coal ports and other non sustainable practices but I’m not brave or confrontational enough to do that. As an Artist and Performer, I like to make people laugh, help them feel at ease with the community around them and learn that sustainable living can be fun.

Rosscis Proboscis at Earth Hour 2009Editor's Note:  We have been the beneficiaries on many occasions of this man's generous community spirit. He's made masks, clowned around and worked with kids to get our message across in ways that are both fun and engaging.   And he's managed to contribute on the more mundane levels too as part of our TN steering group