A university requires more than professors, administrators and students to run properly. The preparation of food, maintenance and cleaning of facilities, landscaping and groundskeeping work, and thousands of other essential tasks build the foundation of every place of learning. Even so, conversations between these two worlds can be rare, and when they do occur, might be scaffolded by hierarchical ideas about work. One program, sponsored by the Curb Center in collaboration with Forklift Danceworks, seeks to change this.

Forklift Danceworks, an Austin-based dance company, has facilitated the creation of a variety of large-scale movement-based performancesthat have centered workers involved in waterways, animal care, sanitation, university facilities, and city pools, among other essential areas. These performances require reciprocal relationships among creative and community partners, informing Forklift Danceworks' guiding tenets, which include "be curious," "build trust," and "create together."

Bucket truck and line workers in
PowerUP by Forklift Danceworks (Leon
Alesi/Forklift Danceworks)

In the fall, Forklift founder and artistic director Allison Orr and producer Lisa Byrd visited campus and met with faculty, staff, and facilities representatives to design a program that best fits the Vanderbilt community. This collaboration resulted in the Community Engagement Boot Camp, a program that premiered in early spring.

During this boot camp, Vanderbilt students, faculty and staff took three Saturday workshops with choreographers from Forklift Danceworks. These workshops were complemented by five hours of job shadowing various employees who work in Facilities and Campus Dining, organized in partnership with Scotty Glasgow, senior employee engagement and learning resource manager, and Jennifer Garcia, director of auxiliary services. The range of participants was academically diverse, with students from departments and programs including Culture, Advocacy and Leadership; Community Development and Action; Teaching and Learning; and Anthropology. Faculty and staff from the College of Arts and Science, Blair School of Music, Peabody College and Vanderbilt University Medical Center also participated. Their goal? To create a mutually beneficial and arts-based dialogue that humanizes all involved. The workshops focused on active listening, community engagement, arts-based collaboration and movement.

Participants in the Vanderbilt Community
Engagement Boot Camp. (Kayleigh Stack/Forklift Danceworks)

Between the three Saturday workshops, each participant shadowed an employee in Campus Dining or Facilities. While the tasks varied widely-some made sandwiches in Rand, some painted numbers on athletic fields, and some tackled a fraction of the mountains of dishes that dining workers handle daily-each of the shadowing experiences allowed for sustained dialogue, unexpected connections and a deepened respect for the complexity of labor often assumed to be simple.

Participants in Community Engagement Boot Camp
during job shadowing. (Allison Orr/Forklift Danceworks)

"I was able to welcome Rachel and Leah to our side of life and give them the back story of how the food is made," said Culinary Operations Leader Nicolas Rudd. "I have a passion for cooking, and I was able to share that with them and allow them to taste some foods they probably haven't had."

Rudd was shadowed by Curb Center Program Manager Rachel Thompson and Curb Center Director Leah Lowe, who both fully participated in the boot camp. "In shadowing Nic, I learned about the tremendous care that dining staff members put into their work. Nic has ongoing relationships with students that are important to him, just like I do. He was a fantastic host!" said Lowe about her experience. "Cultivating community is one of the Curb Center's goals, and we, as a group, were so gratified to be welcomed into such lively and generous parts of Vanderbilt's larger community."

Scott Glasglow, who spearheads the Facilities Employee Engagement and Learning program, said, "This experience reaffirmed the immeasurable value our staff brings-not only to the campus but to the lives of those they interact with, often without realizing the lasting impressions they leave behind. The students gained insight into a workforce that is integral to their environment, and they left with a perspective shift that will stay with them for years to come." This sentiment is reflected by participants, who rated their understanding of engagement, openness to challenging views, and ability to initiate conversations as significantly higher after participating in the boot camp.

This program introduced a new structure for fostering cross-campus relationships while training participants in essential skills for community collaboration. The boot camps mark the starting point for a continuing partnership between Forklift Danceworksand the Curb Center, and program offerings for the 2025-26 academic yearwill be announced this fall.