The Penn Collective

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The Penn Collective

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A Non-Partisan Collective determined to redefine the socio-political spaces for women of TN.

21/08/2026

Dear folks!!

The Penn Collective is looking for interns! 👩🏾‍💻

We need a few young brains to join our team as an intern to support us with our new movement building work.
If you are someone who believes in feminist ideology or is willing to learn about it, then you are all welcome 🤗

Nature: Unpaid Internships
Certificates will be provided 🧾

Scope of work: documentation, theatre performances, photography.
No. of interns needed - 2
Internship period - minimum 1 month

If you're interested or know someone who is a right fit, write to us at [email protected].
Please feel free to reach out to us in case of queries. 💙

18/08/2026

The uniqueness of the Thenkoodu training is that it combines the theoretical topics like governance and skill-based sessions like fundraising, and public speaking, all together as a package. 👩🏾‍💻

Day 2 of Thenkoodu residential in Chennai embodied this vision. It was about the participants re-discovering their voices and path to action. 🗓️

The day started with body movement activities and folk arts in the morning, as we believe in the collective care and wellness of women. 🧘🏾‍♀️

The participants were then immersed into the conceptual and practical aspects of electoral process, art of public speaking, and fundraising strategies. Introduction to practical toolkits on how to build a people-powered fundraising and campaigning strategy, to mobilise, communicate and amplify a message that matters using social media, brought a powerful ending to the day! 🎯

A leader doesn’t rise alone. The spirit of coming together, appreciating sisterhood and building a community together, reminds us of the true spirit of Thenkoodu.

02/08/2026

The first chapter of Thenkoodu has been completed successfully!

For three inspiring days in Chennai, passionate young women came together to learn, connect, and prepare for contesting in the upcoming local government elections. Through interactive sessions, discussions, and shared experiences, participants strengthened their understanding of governance, democracy, leadership, public speaking, gender budgeting, fundraising and curating their own campaigning strategies.

The first day exclusively focussed on Understanding the constitutional values and Constitutional Amendments that laid the foundation for the local government structure in India. These sessions were facilitated by Mr. Nandakumar from Thannatchi organization. Ms. Sakthi Rekha from Voice of People focussed on urban local government elections and its provisions. Ms. Poorani, The Penn Collective Trust handled the session on Women and Politics across the globe. The participants were involved in mapping the political history and women political leaders at the National and state levels.

The day ended with the screening of a documentary titled Avalidam Arasiyal followed by a fruitful discussion with the Ex Panchayat president Ms. Tamil Selvi from Tiruvallur District.

25/07/2026

The Penn Collective expresses complete solidarity with the students' protests that took place over the last few weeks across the country. We would like to congratulate the youth on achieving the first baby step of making the Union Education Minister resign.

We believe that the abolition of NEET and decentralisation of education is the ultimate solution for the issue though.

Having said all that, there are some grave mistakes that happened during the course of the protest which are simply unacceptable and we are obliged to highlight the same to the protestors. Creating placards and memes that portray Mr. Modi as a woman is misogynistic as what you try to convey from that is "I'm shaming you by making you look like a woman". One movement should not be built on the shattered pieces of another movement.

The CJP is also morally obliged to guide its followers towards good and bad practices and must advise its followers against the usage of sexist, violent language and portrayal. (Refer to image 2) for a few examples.

As per Dr. B.R. Ambedkar's words, we have agitated and organized. Now it's our responsibility to educate ourselves and take this movement further in solidarity with all other movements like women's rights, dalit rights, labour rights movements, as all the struggles aim to tackle the same structural barriers of patriarchy, casteism, capitalism, etc.

16/07/2026

The Penn Collective was invited to be a stall partner at Adaiyalam 2026 – Chennai Mental Health Festival on 5th July 2026, an annual event hosted by The House of Hibiscus.

At the festival, The Penn Collective’s Art Crew – Senkanthal Kalai Kuzhu created an experience-based stall centred around Gender and Mental Health.

Our stall was not just a space to view or buy art. It was a space to pause, reflect, create and connect.

Through our artworks, we invited people to engage with and reflect on women’s mental health. We also presented short theatrical performances that sparked conversations and emotions.

One of the most meaningful parts of the stall was our collaborative artwork, where visitors painted their thoughts and reflections on women’s mental health. We also designed a Snakes and Ladders game around the theme, and it was interesting to hear the different perspectives, experiences and conversations it brought out.

Overall, it was a meaningful experience to explore women’s mental health through art and create a space where people could pause, share and start conversations.

A big thank you to everyone who visited our stall, participated, reflected and made this experience special.

Also a special thanks to The Penn Collective volunteers, who shared their art works, poems, craft works and in person support. (Siva, Bharathi,Sundheep, Dhaarani, Manthra, Poorani, Thendral, Samrutha, Jaihind Kabilan and others)

Without the team, this wouldn’t have been possible.

Cheers to us 🍻

09/07/2026

On 3rd July 2026, we held the first discussion with participating artists of the upcoming collaborative art exhibition curated by Samrutha SB. The exhibition is on 'Understanding Social Injustice through the Lens of Magical Realism' before which a series of discussions and workshops are held with the participating artists. The first discussion was on the "Personal is Political" theme led by Ms. Poorani who was joined by 12 curious, open-minded and participative artists.

The conversations were instigated with an activity called "The privilege walk' which made everyone reflect and question their own social locations. Then the discussion took its own course exploring various topics like "What makes a community different from a system?" "What does it mean to inconvenience ourselves to break away from social conditioning?" Moreover it left the participants with lingering thoughts on how they can do better in society.

Support our work: UPI: 9629020856@ptyes

06/07/2026

Dear folks!!

Exciting opportunity to bank on your dual interests in arts and social change. We are looking to hire interns, interested in being a part of our Senkanthal Kalai Kuzhu. 🎭

Immediate joining! Minimum duration - 1 month.

Unpaid internship. Exposure, knowledge & network building opportunities, certificate of completion and other perks available. 🏅

If you're interested, reach out to the number given in the poster.

Spread the word and help us find our people 💙

Your support means the world to us. Even a single rupee matters - UPI: 9629020856@ptyes

01/07/2026

We are excited and happy to invite you all to The Penn Collective Trust's stall that would be set up at the IIT Madras Research Park on 5th July 2026 between 10 AM and 6 PM, as part of the Hibiscus Foundation's Adaiyalam Mental Health Fest.

Our stall will display materials and art work that ignites thoughts and conversations around Gender and Mental health. We will be engaging in fun discussions, activities, games, and much more!! 🥳

Please visit us with your friends and family! Let's smash patriarchy together and make mental health the mainstream conversation! 💜 See you all there!

28/06/2026

The Thenkoodu outreach and orientation meetings, in collaboration with various civil society organizations, political parties and activists were successfully held across various locations in Tiruppur and Tirunelveli districts between 5-7, June 2026.

The sessions brought together aspiring women leaders from both the districts, reflecting a strong commitment to creating meaningful change in their communities.

The conversations reinforced the growing need for inclusive leadership and politics rooted in empathy, equality, and public service.

08/06/2026

Climate change is not gender neutral.

To commemorate World Environment Day 2026, the team of staff and the interns led a discussion on the Water crisis, how it disproportionately affects women and girls, violates their basic human rights and juxtaposed it with the new investments for the creation of AI Data centers in the metro cities like Chennai, Bengaluru, Hyderabad, and Delhi that are already water deprived.

The discussion was facilitated after screening two videos that explored the atrocious concept of "Water Wives" in rural Maharashtra and the big billion dollar business and politics behind AI data centres.

It was a moment of collective cognizance and realisation that addressing the climate crisis is urgent and it needs to be done through an intersectional feminist lens with the leadership of women.

"We are either going to have a future where women lead the way to make peace with the earth or we are not going to have a human future at all." - Vandana Shiva

Address

Chennai

Opening Hours

9am - 10pm

Website

https://www.vikatan.com/gender/rights/let-s-improve-the-role-of-women-in-politics-and-economy-women-s-federation

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