Newark native BRANDON W. MEIJA is a Latino alumnus of Rutgers Mason Gross School of the Arts (BM), where he studied abroad in Cuba, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, and Thailand. He is a proud Ronald McNair alumni, 2024 Hispanic Scholarship Fund Awardee, and recently named a 2025 Quilting Water Undergraduate Prize winner. He has presented on the topic of The Migration of Andean Music and Cultural Traditions.  As a jazz saxophonist, soloist and band member of The Young Picassos, he continues to bring music to his communities highlighting Jazz, Latin American culture and everything in between.