Center for Applied Cultural Transitions

Unlearning Systems

CACTUS is an unlearning platform to decolonize from the dominant systems and re-enchant our mind/body/hearts into coherence with our living planet to birth emergent futures rooted in collective liberation.

Namesake

Cacti have evolved in barren, dry deserts as strong, resilient plants representing endurance, courage and beauty in the face of adversity. In many Indigenous cultures, the cactus is a coveted spiritual guide and healer through its medicinal and psychoactive powers. As the namesake of this portal, we evoke the reverence and humility to look to the more-than-human realms in these times of transition. 

Model

CACTUS operates as a cooperative platform. One-third of the surplus goes to the guides, one-third to the production, design, and technology team, and one-third to our land commons, Tierra Valiente: Center for Applied Cultural Transition, a post-capitalist experiment in the rainforest of Costa Rica where many of the in-person gatherings and recordings take place. 

Tierra Valiente also operates as a not-for-profit cooperative and distributes 25% of its surplus to other regenerative land-based projects that share principles of: decommodifying land, operating with cooperative economic models, protecting biodiversity, creating food sovereignty, and supporting bio-regional mutual aid networks. 

CACTUS operates as a not-for-profit 501(c)3 through a joint venture between Tierra Valiente and Culture Hack Labs, and is fiscally sponsored by the New World Foundation in New York.