Analogue Academy

Walking along Cuzens Place you could easily miss a little sign and doorway leading to an unassuming film studio and small business championing a Geelong creative scene.

Analogue Academy is a film studio, café, bar, and event space tucked into a Geelong laneway.

Styled like a living room, with couches and tables covered in light let in through a large window, visitors can sit in the sun and enjoy a coffee or game of chess after dropping off film to be developed.

But the team at Analogue are doing more than developing film for local photographers.

“We wanted to create a space for people that were creatives to not have to leave Geelong, because when we started nine years ago there was a big movement of young creative people leaving the Surf Coast to go to Melbourne,” co-founder of Analogue Joshua Maxwell De Hoog said.

Joshua said he and Analogue Academy co-founders James Cox and Daniel Horvat started Analogue Academy with the vision to create a space to pursue more artistic endeavours.

“We were all photographers working together and there were no labs in Geelong at that time and I was developing from home, and we decided we wanted to make it more accessible for young Geelong photographers.

“We were shooting school photos and that’s a pretty laborious and non-creatively fulfilling industry.

“It’s not a business built around making money, it’s a business built around us doing the things we’re interested in, and filling that void for other people like us in Geelong.”

Today, Analogue Academy doubles as a brewery and whiskey bar with a café and venue for creative events, including jazz jam nights, vintage clothing sales, art and photography exhibitions, beer and whisky tasting events and more.

“In the last five years we’ve definitely noticed a large influx of young people moving down to Geelong and the Surf Coast from Melbourne.

“Nowadays it’s a different scenario, we are connecting creatives. We don’t feel so isolated now, but initially it was very isolating, we were the only space doing non-commercial creative things.”

With a vision to host artistic events, without the red tape of normal venues, Josh said at Analogue the team started with spoken word nights, which has now grown into an event of its own, and they are focusing on hosting more and more out-of-the-box music events and exhibitions.

“We host Jazz in A Hat and Pivot Sounds monthly, and fortnightly we have exhibitions.

“We also host about three gigs a month, so live music is pretty prominent, and we want to hone in on more experimental music, bands that want to do something super weird.

“We’re trying to allow space for people that don’t feel welcomed in the other spaces in Geelong.”

To find out more about Analogue Academy or their upcoming events, head to analogueacademy.com.au.