Fifth World Collective

Culture • Art • Music • Language

Join the 5th World Collective

Subscribe to our free newsletter/blog
[coming soon]We'll send you a monthly email with global and local news from around the world, cultural and linguistic insights, submitted messages and art from 5th World members, upcoming projects and events, and what's new on the 5th World Market!We are open to collaboration requests and submissions of art, music, poetry/writing, etc.
Get in touch by e-mail or Instagram to learn more about joining the Collective.All skills, crafts, and trades are welcome here.
All are welcome here!

About Us

Welcome to the Fifth World Cultural Collective. We are a community dedicated to sustainably sharing and creating cultural products and knowledge. United by a common goal of bringing people together from around the world in a spirit of peace and creative collaboration. Our goal is to create networks of local and global artists, craftspeople, musicians, writers, teachers, learners, farmers, architects, builders, dreamers, and all beings.The Fifth World Collective is part of our vision for a more peaceful, sustainable, and interconnected planet. We are starting this organization because we know that our differences should unite us, not separate us. We must take individual and collective action every day to spread this message. Join us as messengers of the Fifth World!

Music

Tierra Etérea is the exploratory music of Fifth World Collective founders Chris Ver Voort and Francys Luis-Ravelo. The music blends folk, ambient soundscapes, psychedelic rock, bossa nova, and other traditional music from around the world.Available for streaming on all major platforms.Contact us to book a performance!

listen

art

Explore our collection of enchanting original artwork! Inquire for pricing and availability.Scroll down to see our first digital gallery, featuring art by Francys Luis-Ravelo.Join the Collective to get your own art featured!

Language Learning

Interested in learning English, Spanish, or other languages? How about Mandinka, Haitian Creole, or Wolof?Check out our free language learning resources, or contact us to schedule a private online language tutor!Languages currently available for tutoring:
• English: All Levels
• Spanish: A1-A2 (Beginner)
• French: A1-A2 (Beginner)
• Mandinka: A1-A2 (Beginner)
• Wolof: A1 (Basics)[coming soon]

FIFTH WORLD MARKET

Shop our online world market, a carefully curated selection of imported and domestic cultural goods. Find new books, musical instruments, art, and more!
[coming soon]

Our Philosophy

Why "5th World" ?
The terms First World, Second World, and Third World were born out of the Cold War—dividing humanity into rigid categories based on political alliances and economic status. The term Fourth World was later added to describe Indigenous and stateless peoples/nations. We believe that it's time to go beyond these four worlds. Humanity must be reevaluated for who we truly are: One people, living on one interconnected world, sharing and sustaining the world and one another.The name also honors Indigenous American traditions, which speak of the Earth and humanity progressing through great eras or worlds. Among the Hopi, stories tell of the transition from the Fourth to the Fifth World—a time of great change, and a return to harmony with nature, which some say has already begun.The Zuni also speak of emergence through previous worlds, arriving in the Daylight World where humans must live in right relationship with all beings. The Diné (Navajo) recount four earlier worlds, each left behind through hardship or imbalance, with the Fifth World representing our present time—called "The Glittering World", an era in which humans must learn, heal, and create Hózhó; "beauty and balance.Nahua/Aztec cosmology also describes five successive eras, culminating in our current age. The first four Suns ended in catastrophic destruction (jaguars, hurricane winds, fiery rain, and a flood), after which each age was reborn anew. Now, in the Fifth Sun, the Sun of Motion, the world is sustained in a delicate balance, and it is humanity who must maintain the Teōtl, which is like the Tao 道, the ineffable - or qi, prana, mana, orenda, manitou, and so many others - all terms for the permeating universal energy or force connecting all things.In modern scientific terms, this may be akin to quantum field theory, which no longer sees the universe as an empty space with particles moving through it. Rather, that the universe is a set of pervasive, vibrating fields that are the totality of time and space. For a Buddhist it may be Indra's Net, the infinite cosmic net with a jewel at every intersection reflecting all the other jewels. This illustrates the principle of pratītyasamutpāda (interdependent co-arising), which affirms that the ground of being is Śūnyatā—often translated as "Emptiness", misinterpreted as "Nothingness". It actually means all things are empty of an independently arising self that exists without dependence on or relation to its environment.This is the heart of the Fifth World philosophy. We are all interconnected and interdependent on everything else. To our fellow brothers and sisters we are connected by music, language, art, culture, and so much more. To live in a more harmonious balance with our environments and with each other.