Find out more about our creative process for connection
Co-Lab by Forklift Danceworks is a transformative creative process that uses inquiry and collaboration to deepen connection among a wide range of communities—civic, educational, business—so they can find solutions for shared issues.
We activate communities—whether it’s for a one-hour interactive presentation, daylong workshops, weeklong residencies or collective art-making—to deepen understanding, enhance meaningful collaboration and address shared issues, big and small.
From city departments to corporate leaders to college students, anyone can Co-Lab!
Opportunities to Co-Lab are wide-ranging and can help you:
- Translate issues into relatable stories that inspire actionable change.
- Increase public awareness regarding your priority external issues, ranging from environmental stewardship to celebrating your diverse workforce.
- Enhance organizational resilience with creative problem solving skills and best practices in leadership development.
- Improve capacity for communication and collaboration to build understanding that moves beyond transactional relationships.
Co-Labs engagements include:
Academic Seminars/Classes
Over the course of a semester or weeklong seminar, Forklift artists will teach students about the principles of community-based art making, coaching students in how to conduct ethnographic research and create co-authored work of art.
Campus Engagement Visits and Residencies
During a residency, Forklift artists will showcase our work, give guest lectures about our community art-making process and meet with campus stakeholders to explore possibilities for a larger coaching partnership or collaborative performance project.
Workforce Collaborations
Forklift can collaborate with any workforce—public, private or institutional—to gather their stories and co-author a creative product that shines a light on their work. The result could be a performance, an audio story collection or video production that showcases the mastery and beauty of the work of life.
Keynotes, Panels and Customized Presentations
Forklift artists can engage gatherings of any size by showcasing our work and leading the group through an aspect of our unique process, whether that’s movement-based improvisation or deep listening experience.
Workshops and Meetings
To unlock creativity or deepen connection, Forklift choreographers can lead civic or corporate groups through our process of listening, improvisation and movement.
Coaching and Customized Presentations
Forklift’s thought leadership programs range from individual and group coaching to lectures and written articles on how arts-based practices can activate communities to deepen connection and address challenging issues.
Performance Projects
Through long-term partnership, Forklift artists will design and lead a collaborative, dance making process that will culminate in a site-specific performance for community members. These multi-year projects will be designed following initial consultation and visits from Forklift staff
Past partnerships include:
- Municipal Partners: URBASER in Barcelona; ROTEB in Rotterdam; Water & Sewer Dept of the City of Middletown, CT; Austin Energy, Austin Fire Department, Austin Parks & Recreation, Austin Watershed Protection + more
- Corporate Partnerships: AT&T; Goodwill Central Texas; Whole Foods; Japanese Women’s Baseball League in Kyoto, Japan; HEB; IBC Bank + more
- University Residencies and Commissions: Texas A&M, Wake Forest University, Wesleyan University, Williams College, University of Texas at Austin + more
- Government and Foundation Grantors: Bloomberg Philanthropies, Doris Duke Foundation, Mid-America Arts Alliance, The National Endowment for the Arts, New England Foundation for the Arts, Texas Commission on the Arts + more
For more information or to inquire about Co-Lab, contact Artistic Director Allison Orr allison@forkliftdanceworks.org
