The Story Behind Hidden Lanes
The roots of hidden lanes: storytelling through the arts
The roots of Hidden Lanes began way back into the depths of time, when founders Jarrod and Emma were little wipper snappers. Jarrod grew up in the Wimmera, and loved daydreaming about stories and art. He studied Fine Art at the VCA. Emma was born in Perth, moved to Melbourne, and then Ballarat. While in Ballarat as a teen, she was entranced by the little historic terrace she lived in on Lydiard Street, and Ballarat’s history and became involved in Ballarat’s performance scene. She studied a B.A. in Performance Studies (Theatre). Jarrod and Emma met while at uni, when they both moved into a 10 bedroom share house in Kew.
slow travel in south korea
After getting married, Jarrod went on to become a High School art teacher and Emma into event/stage management in Melbourne. After their son was born, a few years later they moved to South Korea for 9 years. During that time they made trips around South Korea and found the whole “slow living” and “slow food” movement very interesting. They created a short documentary film about slow travel in Jeju Island, focusing on telling people’s stories they met along the way, as well as a guidebook. They loved the process so much they wanted to do more, so that people could enjoy this unique and beautiful way of travelling!
creating hidden lanes
Jarrod and Emma Hall moved to Ballarat in 2018 and setup a video production business and event/marketing business, called The Ginkgo Tree Creative Studio. Inspired by Ballarat’s beautiful history and unique businesses, a slow travel guide was always in the back of their minds. Jarrod worked with creatives, small businesses and NGO’s to help them tell their story through video. Emma was the event manager for the VACSAL Carnival in 2018 and won the VICSPORT Community Event Of The Year and in 2020 curated the (cancelled) Ballarat Heritage Festival. Emma worked with creatives & wellness businesses for their digital marketing. In January 2022 they had a break from their usual work and could hold off no more - Hidden Lanes (Ballarat version) was born!