Foundations in Education, Intercultural Collaboration & Radical Imagination

From 1997 to 2005, Kiley Arroyo worked as a teaching artist, partnering with multilingual students to explore math, science, and creative inquiry through culturally responsive practice.

In classrooms where English was often a second language, she witnessed how young people’s cultural identities, ancestral knowledge, and lived experience could become powerful assets in learning — when invited into the room rather than left at the door.

Together, students and teacher experimented with ways to weave heritage, story, and imagination into academic subjects. These intercultural exchanges did more than improve engagement; they expanded what felt possible. They revealed how radical imagination flourishes when diverse ways of knowing meet with respect.

This work illuminated a core truth that continues to shape CSC’s philosophy:
intercultural collaboration is not a gesture toward inclusion — it is a source of intelligence and innovation.

Over time, Kiley became increasingly aware of the structural forces shaping what could and could not happen in those classrooms. Funding streams, policy frameworks, and institutional norms determined whether culturally grounded learning could thrive.

Her curiosity led her to Ireland to study public funding systems and civic investment in the arts, exploring how different societies support citizen creativity and cultural expression. This cross-cultural experience reinforced her belief that diverse cultural logics are essential to healthy democracies — and that they require structural protection.

Returning to the United States, she deepened her engagement with philanthropy and institutional strategy, eventually pursuing advanced study in cultural policy. The journey from classroom to policy to systems design laid the foundation for CSC’s integrated approach.

This early chapter anchors CSC’s commitment to cultivating radical imagination across difference — and to designing institutions and capital strategies that protect and activate the full spectrum of human cultural wisdom.