The Afro Filipino Project "New Voices"

Afro Filipino Project: "New Voices" highlights four Afro Filipinx next-generation artists and their creative expressions. Backed by an ensemble led by music and artistic director John Calloway, featured artists Ting Alvarez, Umali Horne, Jasmine Miller, and Jojo Thompson will explore their identity and how it informs their creative work. Additionally, the ensemble will perform other works that honor legacy Afro Filipino artists and themes.

The Afro Filipino Project

The Afro Filipino Project was formed in 2022 as an interactive space for Afro Filipino, African American, and Filipino American artists to share and create various art practices that reflect our shared histories and self-expression. We provide an open forum and opportunities in all art mediums and practices. Past events include "Buffalo Soldiers in the Philippines: A Crisis of Conscience" in 2023-2024 and performances with the Golden Gate Symphony.

Artist Biographies

Ting Josue Alvarez-Maquinta

A dance practitioner, healer and artist, Ting uses their art as a form of visual and oral story telling like ancestors before them have done, and instills a holistic and spiritual approach to all forms of dance. With an extensive background in root work, as well as being a mammadto and mangngagas,  Ting’s goal is to continue pushing living cultures forward while also embracing innovation in the all art forms. Ting currently possesses a B.A. in dance, an A.A. in music(voice training), as well as a bachelors in zoology, which heavily influences their approach to research and performance.

Jocelyn Thompson-Jordan

Jocelyn Thompson-Jordan is a native San Franciscan singer and performer as well as a proud FOH Manager at BRAVA Theatre. She is honored to be part of the Afro Flipino Project and perform with other talented Afro Filipinx artists in the community! Jocelyn has performed in Larry the Musical and productions with SFBATCO and is excited to join a project that reflects her heritage. She sings in honor of her friends and family who have always supported her.

Umali Horne

Umali Horne, a.k.a. Nahima, is an Afro-Filipinx writer, performer, and recording artist whose roots span from Louisiana to Luzon. Their voice is rooted in the words of their ancestors, their ear trained by generations of storytellers. Under the name Nahima, Arabic for ‘peace’ and a palindrom of the Tagalog cosmological being ‘Amihan,’ they are self-producing a new lineage of R&B for everyone, but especially those who love, cry, and fight for liberation.

Jasmine Miller

Jasmine Miller identifies as a Black and Filipina dancer and is a recent graduate from San Francisco State University. Some of her credits include The Lion King with the Berkeley Black Repertory Group, Afro Haitian performances as a student at Berkeley High, and in the New Move Showcases.with the Dance department at SFSU.  She hopes to explore different interpretations of art through her unique lens as a mixed woman raised in the Bay Area.