Galen Peterson

Galen is a community educator and music producer in Oakland, CA. He is a Co-Founder and Director of the Turf Unity Music Program. In this capacity, he instructs workshops in political education, spoken word, music production, video production, graphic arts design and anti-oppression workshops.

In addition, Galen produces music and art events in the Bay Area in collaboration with the Silence the Violence movement, which uses art to spread awareness about community violence. He also works with the Grind for the Green project, and Weapons of Mass Expression Weekend Wake-Up events. Galen also does work with the Men’s Story Project to confront sexism and patriarchy in society, and explore ways to redefine masculinity in our communities. And, Galen works with the Y-Step collective which does racial justice work with white youth in the Bay Area.

Galen has been producing music in Oakland for many years and has worked on many music projects in the Bay Area, including producing the politically conscious Queer Arab hip-hop rap duo NaR. He also produced three solo albums of his lyrical poetry with his down-tempo hip-hop beats, and has done collaborations with the LA producer Logic the Prophet to produce music videos. Galen uses his music to reflect his political and spiritual beliefs, and explore the roots of violence and oppression in society, while offering a vision of peace and unity.

Galen has attended the Music Recording Industry program at San Francisco State University, and holds a degree in mutli-cultural counseling, art therapy and social work from Evergreen State College.