Currently stationed in Peru, Peterson is collaborating with educators across the country to explore how art and community can intersect to\u00a0help elevate learning.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Throughout his career, art and place have been touchstones in Peterson\u2019s approach to building community. Before he began working as an educator, he founded YUME YUME, an artistic\u00a0practice in Crown Heights focused on socially engaged public art. His most recent project, ONE NYC, was funded by city grants and encouraged New Yorkers\u00a0to examine their shared identities and histories through collaborative\u00a0art.<\/p>\n
Peterson hopes that his time in Peru\u2014which will be followed by a stint in Berlin funded by another fellowship\u2014will prepare him to bring that creativity into the classroom.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat has struck me most is the way creativity and artistic thinking are integrated throughout the educational experience,\u201d Peterson said of the schools he\u2019s visited in Peru. \u201cArt isn’t treated as a separate subject or an occasional enrichment activity. Instead, creative expression is woven into how students learn.\u201d<\/p>\n
![\"z30_1174\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/z30_1174.jpg;w=960.jpeg\"\/)
\nIn the spring of 2026, Peterson held a gallery show for his collaborative project, ONE NYC. Photo: Supplied\/Tyler Jordan
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As a Bed-Stuy native, Peterson also hopes to return ready to help\u00a0his students appreciate their neighborhood\u2019s stature as a center for art and culture, both within New York and globally.<\/p>\n
\u201cOur pyramids just so happen to be our project buildings and the Pfizer building,\u201d Peterson said of Bed-Stuy.<\/p>\n
Peterson spent the first half of his childhood in Marcy Houses, a public housing complex. When he was 12, his family moved to\u00a0Park Slope and Prospect Heights, neighborhoods he remembers as close-knit and multicultural.<\/p>\n
As a high schooler, Peterson decided to transfer to John Dewey High School in Gravesend, known at the time for encouraging\u00a0students to build a curriculum shaped to their own passions. Peterson said he was inspired\u00a0by\u00a0teachers there who “lived what they taught,” including a ceramics teacher who was a world-renowned artist and a history teacher who was a published author.<\/p>\n
Although his career has taken him through finance, music, technology and gaming,\u00a0 Peterson always worked with children, starting with a job\u00a0at the Salvation Army when he was a teenager. It\u00a0was a passion he never lost sight of. He ran a music-and-technology lab in South Africa built around DJing, and later worked as a life coach at South Shore High School. There, he found himself asking, “What if every school had a magician?”\u00a0<\/p>\n
At South Shore, Peterson frequently threw \u201cfull-blown block parties\u201d for his students at six in the morning. He remembers being asked by his colleagues how he\u00a0was able to rally so many students to come to school so early. Now, his answer is simple:\u00a0\u201cIt’s because you know you’re sparking their dreams.\u201d<\/p>\n