our story.
In freshman year, we struggled to find community. We had a strong desire to use our creativity to build things that we believe matter to us and the world, but couldn’t find accessible spaces or communities that encouraged this spirit and made it the norm. Throughout our 2 years at Penn, it became increasingly clear that we lack communities with “scrappiness” at Penn. That experimental, let’s-do-things-for-fun, attitude that has led to some of the greatest companies and inventions in the world. We’ve become too afraid to fail and try new things. Also fallen by the wayside is a feeling of caring deeply about what you do: about the world around you and the things you’re spending your time on.
Previously to tackle loneliness at Penn, Carmen started the Traveling Rad Humans Book project to test an unconventional way of making friends. Amanda worked on Project Community to build a supportive circle for personal development.
Now, here’s what we’re trying to build.
what it looks like.
We want to create a community for artists, musicians, programmers, researchers, founders, and anyone who likes creating things at Penn – where the norms are to experiment, think big, try to make the world better, and ask, “why not?”
We meet weekly for a coworking session – a dedicated time block in your busy week when you sit down to work on the projects you love but keep putting off. Maybe it’s a short story, painting, program, or something else you find creative or meaningful. Imagine in the center of the room a table with a group of people – some discussing designs shown on a laptop screen, some trying to debug each other’s code. Three people off to the side are having a jam session, trying to write a new song. Someone brings in tea and coffee and everyone chats amongst themselves, meeting people who have vastly different interests, but share the desire to create awesome things for a better world. That’s the kind of atmosphere we want to build in this space.
The dream is to have a dedicated coworking space based on the concept of a “Third Place” – a place outside of work and home that gives people a sense of belonging. We want visitors to feel like whenever they have a creative, outside-the-box, new idea they want to work on, we can be the supportive open-door space to foster that.
what we stand for.
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We believe in the brilliance of Penn.
All of Penn. We welcome a diversity of majors, backgrounds, and passions. The cross-pollination in the community will create really awesome things – so much magic happens at the intersections of fields and ideas. When an architect talks to a computer scientist or an environmental major talks to a chemical engineer, new perspectives bubble up.
We believe in building things.
Creating new things – whether it’s art, music, research, software, companies – means building the world you want to see. To have an idea pursue that with all your heart takes courage, a courage that we respect deeply.
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We believe in passion.
Finding something you love to do so much you would do it for free. Something that makes you lose track of time, something really meaningful and exciting to you. It doesn’t have to be your major. It could be anything. You just have to love it. It’s cool to care too much.
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We believe in radical ideas.
Hit us with your countercultural, crazy, and creative ideas. Shake things up a little. We will listen, and we won’t make fun of you. We believe in taking risks – if it’s against the grain, you may just be ahead of the curve. Tell us what change you want to create in this world. We’ll see how we can help. We want to celebrate failures as much as we celebrate successes - failing fast is how we create better models of the world.
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We believe in innovation for a better world.
Your projects don’t need a direct social impact. But we want the community to hold a general shared belief in using our creations to make the world a little better than it was yesterday, whether it’s by empowering others through your creations, connecting people, bridging market inefficiencies, or something else.
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We believe in enabling others.
We want people who have a mindset of “yes, and…” – who will listen to ideas with excitement and open-mindedness, who will support and nurture those around them to grow into the people we each want to be. We want to open up our networks and resources to each other and leverage everyone’s skills.
We believe in thinking big.
What does your vision of the future of the world look like? How can we act in a way that makes waves across oceans? These are the kinds of questions we want to ask.
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We believe that Penn can become a haven for creatives.
You can be creative at Penn, but you often feel alone in it. If you’re just as tired of a culture that marginalizes creativity and makes us cookie cutter versions of each other, join us and change the narrative.
who we are.
Our community is full of people who are:
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rebellious and a little countercultural
curious about learning, particularly from different domains of expertise
empathetic and supportive of other people
open to new, radical, divergent ideas
spontaneous
care deeply about the world and want to bring more happiness into it
what we're into.
sound like you?
We'd love to meet you. Drop by during one of our weekly coworking sessions on Mondays 9pm-11pm in Kelly Writers House room 202 to work on your projects. Everyone is free to invite friends and you don't have to stay for the whole time.
You can also sign up for our mailing list below!
