About
Italian culture provides the starting point for encounters with other cultures, experiences and imaginaries. Italy, the Italian language and Italian artistic practice are where we begin - they are not the destination.
We work with
LAI was founded in Brussels by two cultural professionals whose careers have moved between Italy, Europe and Latin America, inside institutes, schools, universities and cultural institutions.
That experience shaped a simple conviction: cultural work becomes meaningful when it creates encounters. Not audiences to be filled, but people who meet, exchange and make something together.
LAI brings this practice to Brussels - a city where dozens of languages and cultural traditions live side by side - and works outward from there, connecting local communities with international artists, institutions and networks.
Mission
01
In all their richness and contemporary relevance, far beyond heritage and cliché.
02
Contributing to more inclusive and resilient societies through encounter and exchange.
03
Reducing economic, linguistic and social barriers to cultural participation.
04
Connecting experiences, knowledge and creativity from different geographical and cultural contexts.
LAI aims to become a reference point in Brussels and internationally for intercultural dialogue - a space for encounter, reflection and action.
Values
A heritage to preserve, and a force for exploring what is new and still unknown.
Culture is made with people, not delivered to them.
Reducing the economic, linguistic and social barriers that keep culture at a distance.
Artistic practice as a way of thinking, questioning and imagining.
Projects built together with institutions, artists and communities.
Brussels as a meeting point between Europe and the wider world.
Culture should be inclusive and participatory, capable of creating communities.
Team
Co-founder & President
For more than twenty years, Donatella has worked to promote Italian culture internationally, including through leadership roles at the Italian Cultural Institutes in Córdoba, Sydney and Buenos Aires.
With LAI, she continues this work through an intercultural perspective, fostering dialogue between different geographical and cultural worlds through language, cinema and the arts.
Co-founder
A literary translator and language and literature educator, Elina has more than thirty years of experience in schools, universities and cultural institutions in Italy, Belgium, Colombia and Mexico, including the Italian Cultural Institute in Brussels.
Today she works in educational coordination while developing LAI projects that connect language, learning and cultural creation.
Co-founder & fashion designer
Waju is a fashion designer whose creative work explores the dialogue between African heritage and Western influences. His international journey across Africa, Europe, Australia and Latin America - particularly Argentina - has shaped a distinctive vision rooted in cultural exchange and contemporary design.
Passionate about creativity, movement and sharing knowledge, Waju is also a sport and fitness trainer and swimming instructor.