Our Goals

LAFI works toward achieving the following goals:
Arts Education: LAFI seeks to provide arts education to youth, adults, artists, and educators themselves by offering classes, workshops, and seminars focusing on music, percussion & dance.

Arts Access: LAFI strives to bring the arts to a broader community by providing musical direction and consulting at folk festivals, concerts, and educational events in the greater Washington, D.C. metropolitan area.

Community Partnerships: LAFI strives to forge strong community partnerships with similarly-minded groups and acts as an arts consultant for such organizations as the Gala Hispanic Theater, the Washington Ballet, The InSeries, the Washington Post, Joe’s Movement Emporium, the Smithsonian Institution, and the D.C. Commission on the Arts & Humanities.

Community Development: LAFI is committed to the economic and artistic development of its community. We collaborate with both the local government and other businesses to stimulate and revitalize the historic neighborhood in which we are located.

International Exchange: LAFI has been instrumental in bringing renowned artists to the area to perform and to offer workshops to local educators and artists. Featured groups have included a Puerto Rico Folkloric Ballet, an all-women Cuban string ensemble, traditional Cuban son groups, Mexican folk groups, and Puerto Rican and Cuban Afro-Latino groups. LAFI also recently initiated a Cuban educational exchange program with the Cuban National Folkloric Ballet.