Curriculum Vitae

Russell Patrick Brown, PhD

Romani Dance Scholar | Software Engineer

Education

  • 2025 — PhD, Arts Practice (Dance), University of Limerick, Irish World Academy
    Dissertation: Intimate Violence: Feeling Impact in Irish Step Dance (accepted without corrections)
  • 2015 — MA, Irish & Irish American Studies, New York University
    Coursework in founding Department of Performance Studies
  • 2004 — BA, Music (Business minor), Baldwin-Wallace University Conservatory
  • 2003 — Certificate, Jacques-Dalcroze Eurhythmics, University of Maryland

Publications

  • 2027 — Brown, Russell Patrick, and Rosamaria Kostic Cisneros, eds. In Conversation: ROMANI DANCE. London: Bloomsbury Academic (Forthcoming late 2027).
  • 2027 — "American Bohemianism: A Century of Moving Through Enclosure." In Romani Realities in the Americas, edited by Hazel Marsh and Esteban Acuña. London: Routledge (Forthcoming).
  • 2026 — Gypsy Fires (Substack Publication on Romani Philosophy and Embodied History). https://newsletter.gypsyfires.com
  • 2022 — "This Little Wooden World: Choreo-Navigating Maritime Dance." In Celebrating Flamenco's Tangled Roots: The Body Questions, eds. K. Meira Goldberg and Antoni Pizà. Cambridge Scholars Publishing.

Research Affiliations & Service

  • 2024–Present — Member, ERIAC (European Roma Institute for Arts and Culture)
  • 2023–Present — Peer Reviewer, International Journal of Romani Studies; Journal of Environmental Media (Intellect Books)
  • 2022 — Celebrate & Recalibrate Flamenco Project, Coventry University
  • 2018–2022 — Contributing Member, Roma People's Project, Columbia University

Fellowships, Residencies & Awards

  • 2018 — Full Facebook Scholarship, Flatiron School (Full-Stack Web Development)
  • 2017 — Shortlisted Finalist (Top 7 of 120+), UCD Parity Studios Artist Residency
  • 2015–2018 — Half-tuition Scholarship Award, University of Limerick
  • 2013–2015 — Half-tuition Scholarship Award, New York University

Selected Conference Presentations

  • 2026 — Citizens Abroad and the International Order: Past and Present, NUI, Maynooth
  • 2025 — Dance Studies Association Annual Conference, Washington, DC
  • 2024 — NY Web Performance Meetup, Dotdash Meredith (People Inc)
  • 2024 — Early Dance Symposium, University of Pennsylvania
  • 2023 — Dance Studies Association Symposium, The Place, London
  • 2022 — Critical Romani Studies Conference, Stockholm
  • 2020 — Roma Peoples: Between Nations and Globalism, Columbia University SIPA, New York
  • 2019 — Growing Up Roma, Flemish Consulate, New York City

Engineering Experience

  • 2024–Present — Founder & Principal, Rustle Media LLC
    Built a hybrid, decentralized Roma and Sinti kumpanija with public-facing Substack publication (newsletter.gypsyfires.com) and website (gypsyfires.com)
  • 2022–2025 — Engineering Manager, Performance, People, Inc., New York
    Directed web performance, architecture optimization and site reliability engineering across high-concurrency media publishing platforms serving over 100 million monthly readers.
  • 2019–2022 — Technical Lead, Fortune Media, New York
    Led digital architecture and software engineering teams; architected numerous website redesigns including paywalls for fortune.com.
  • 2019 — Architect & Developer, StormsOfJupiter (AMNH / NASA)

Artistic Works

  • 2026 — Russell Patrick Brown v 18 Gay Street LLC: An Extraction in Three Ledgers. Interactive temporal digital archive of displacement.
  • 2025 — who is allowed to fall. Teach Cheoil, Ennistymon. Hybrid performance-conversation (harp + step dance).
  • 2023 — AngelAI. University of Limerick. 30-minute practice-as-research performance (Irish step, Romani Dance/Storytelling, harp and custom acoustic/electronic textures).

Press & Media

  • 2025 — "Rediscovering the Romani identity," The Clare Champion
  • 2025 — "UL graduate embraces identity and heals trauma through dance," Live95
  • 2025 — "Journey in dance helped UL graduate embrace identity," The Clare Herald
  • 2020 — "Holdout tenant in $1,500 West Village apartment fears demolition of historic townhouse," Gothamist
  • 2019 — "Fortune adopts paywall in major redesign of site, magazine," New York Post
  • 2019 — "Growing Up Roma in America: Russell's Story," Roma Peoples Project

Languages

  • English (Native/Fluent)
  • Spanish (Fluent)
  • Irish (Advanced Beginner)
  • Romungró (Beginner)
  • German, Italian & French (Elementary Reading Knowledge)

Technical Skills

  • JavaScript • TypeScript • Python • PHP
CV