Chris Orrick

Culture Lab Manager

Chris Orrick is the Culture Lab Program Manager at Western States Center. He began working with the organization in 2020 as a consultant and joined the staff full-time in 2021. Chris works to engage musicians, venue leaders, and other cultural workers in efforts to strengthen inclusive democracy, developing programs, trainings, and partnerships that support cultural spaces as sites of community resilience, creative expression, and collective action. A graduate of Michigan State University with a degree in Political Science, he brings a background in the independent music industry as a Detroit-based hip hop artist, and continues to draw on that experience to inform his collaborative, community-centered approach. Based in Michigan, Chris remains closely connected to the state’s music and cultural landscape.