Dr. Carlos Ruiz Cortés

Carlos was appointed executive director of the Instituto de Cultura Puertorriqueña (ICP) in January 2017 to implement and oversee public policy for arts, culture and heritage. Under his leadership, ICP has established long-term partnerships that benefit its constituents and increase access to Puerto Rico’s heritage. Part of his works was include internships, digitization projects, celebration of multiple cultural festivals and active relationships with the Puerto Rican diaspora. From 2018-2023, Dr. Ruiz Cortés served simultaneously as the executive director of the Corporación de las Artes Musicales, the public corporation of the Symphony Orchestra of Puerto Rico. He holds a Ph.D. in history from the Interamerican University of Puerto Rico. Also he was a board member of Mid Atlantic Arts. Under his administration, the ICP managed to win the Emmy Award alongside Puerto Rican singer-songwriter Hermes Croatto, for the special “Mi San Juan”,which triumphed in the Arts and Entertainment Long Format category in 2022. Currently, Carlos works as a cultural and artistic advisor on various projects with renowned artists such as Rauw Alejandro and manages all the administrative aspects of the Encanto Scoring Corporation being one of its founding partners.

Joey Mercado

Joey is a global Latin music executive, music rights and royalties consultant, and special event producer at Dos Veintiocho LLC. In 2021. Mercado founded his own music business and entertainment consulting agency based in San Juan, Puerto Rico. Until June 2021, Joey Mercado was Executive Director of Latin Music at BMI, where he worked for over 25 years in the company’s Creative and Licensing departments. Mercado was responsible for recruiting new songwriters and publishers, assisting them with administrative needs along with his team, and serving as a liaison between the Latin music community and the broader music industry. He also organized numerous flagship annual Latin music events and song camps where major hits were created. Throughout his career at PRO, Mercado signed and worked closely with some of the best songwriters, producers, and artists in Latin music, including Residente, Ozuna, Elvis Crespo, Rauw Alejandro, CNCO, PJ Sin Suela, iLe, La Secta All Star, Vivanativa, Young Miko, Cultura Profética, Circo, DJ Blass, La Mala Rodriguez, Rawayana, Brytiago, Haze, and Ivy Queen, among many others. Prior to BMI, Mercado was Director of Public Relations, Marketing, and Promotions at the radio station NotiUno in Puerto Rico, where he oversaw special events and established key relationships within the local music industry. Before NotiUno, he was an account executive at Leo Burnett, an advertising agency, handling accounts such as Bacardi Rum and Medalla. Joey served as Governor of the Florida Recording Academy (Grammy) for four years and was included in Billboard Magazine’s Latin Power Player list two years in a row, in 2019 and 2020.

Rubén Toledo Tellado

Rubén holds a Master’s degree in Music Education from the Puerto Rico Conservatory of Music. Driven by his passion for composition, he studied under the tutelage of renowned composer Alfonso Fuentes. From a young age, he worked on large-scale events, composing for concert bands, marching bands, orchestras, choirs, and all types of musical ensembles. He worked for 14 years at the specialized school Libre de Música Ernesto Ramos Antonini in San Juan, where he created the introductory Composition Course and taught courses in Harmony and Fundamentals of Music, as well as conducting the concert band, among other subjects. As a composer, Rubén has been a finalist in the New Trombone Collective competition held in the Netherlands, won the José Ignacio Quintón Award from the Institute of Puerto Rican Culture twice, composed five original albums available on streaming platforms, created numerous musical arrangements for all types of ensembles, worked as a songwriter, produced artistic events, and composed music for film and television commercials. Alongside Puerto Rican composer Emmanuel Segarra, he has worked as an orchestrator on several Hollywood films, including Miracle at Manchester, At the Canyon’s Mouth, and Down. Among other experiences, Rubén has received training in video game composition from composer Tom Salta and has participated in specialized seminars at Musical Theaters with Disney Broadway Company in New York. Some of the artists with whom Rubén has collaborated on various projects are: Luis Fonsi, Tommy Torres, Roselyn Sánchez, Andy Montañez, Marcos Sánchez, Alexandra Fuentes, Pirulo, Norberto Vélez, among others.

Harold Wendell Sanders

Harold Wendell Sanders is a Grammy Award and Latin Grammy Award winning recording and mixing engineer based in the island of Puerto Rico. Has worked with different artists such as Cabra, Calle 13, Monsieur Periné, Residente, La Vida Boheme, Tommy Torres, Ile, Vicente García, Diana Fuentes and others. Throughout his career, which celebrates being able to make a living from the art he is passionate about, he has received over 20 nominations for the Latin Grammy Awards as a recording and mixing engineer. Harold has worked for several years on the renowned Christmas special prepared by Banco Popular de Puerto Rico, which stands out for being a high-level cinematic production, as well as working as a mixing engineer on the documentary Landfall.

Josiane Feliciano

Josiane A performer on both classical and electric guitar, educator, sound engineer, composer, and music producer, Josiane Abdiel Feliciano Román stands out in the world of music in a multifaceted way. A graduate of the Puerto Rico Conservatory of Music, this native of Aguadas received formal classical guitar training from the beginning. He is a disciple of a distinguished school of Puerto Rican masters, including Angel del Río; Dr. José Antonio López; Luis Enrique Juliá, with whom he completed his undergraduate studies; and the renowned international guitarist Iván Rijos, with whom he pursued his graduate studies. A versatile guitarist, Feliciano’s career extends beyond classical music. He also excels in popular music, collaborating with artists such as Danny Rivera, Revoestereo, Daymé Arocena, Camilú, Manolo Ramos, iLe, Fofé, Kany García, Joel Prieto, music producer Marcos Sánchez, and sacred music artists including Juan Carlos Rosa, Kairy Marquez, Christine D’Clario, Jacobo Ramos, Celinés, Lilly Goodman, and Ángel Chaparro. He has won several Latin Grammys and been nominated more than eight times as a guitarist and engineer. Currently, he works as a music producer, composer, and audio engineer at AQ 30 Colectivo in Bayamón, La Vid Recording Studio in Aguada, EMR Studio in Santa Isabel, and San Juan Mix Suite in Guaynabo. and also as a teacher of cuatro, guitar and technology at the Escuela Libre de Música Ernesto Ramos Antonini, in San Juan.

Emmanuel Segarra

Emmanuel have a Master Degree in Music Composition from The University of Southern California. Film and Videogames enthusiast, Emmanuel Segarra Ortíz has a distinct style of composition. His music captures the melodic essence of a scene and uses the atmosphere for harmonic inspiration. Mostly focused on orchestral-acoustic music he seeks to deliver great and personal sounds that the spectator will find emotionally attached to and be fully immersed in the narrative of the story. As a composer he has been experienced with large ensembles such as Symphonic Orchestras and Concert Bands, acquiring recognitions from the Institute of Culture of Puerto Rico, Conservatory of Music of Puerto Rico and even the Smithsonian Institute. With these opportunities he has also conducted various of his works, classical repertoire and premiered other student compositions. With media projects, Emmanuel has collaborated with different Educational Institutions on musicalizing different student media projects that have been used as part of the class curriculum or have been premiered on Fine Arts Cinema in Puerto Rico. He works like composer and orchestrator in Hollywood productions like: Miracle at Manchester, At the Canyon’s Mouth, Down, Truth & Treason, Beyond Ed Buck, Six Triple Eight, Totenfrau, Vniz and much others. Thanks to his works in The Miracle at Manchester, won 3 Awards in three film festivals. Actually, Emmanuel works with the renowned composer Aaron Zigman.