News November 3, 2019

The Zoo’s Pixie Weyand schools ignorant venue punter after receiving offensive email

Brisbane-based entrepreneur Pixie Weyand, who owns The Zoo music venue and co-launched a plastic-free initiative with 123 Agency last year, has put an ignorant punter in their place.

A person, who Weyand kept anonymous when she took to Instagram to post a screenshot, has emailed The Zoo in Brisbane’s Fortitude Valley to express their disgust at something adorning the entrance to the venue.

“Why did you write on the wall to the entry to the venue that the venue is ‘owned by a female’ as if that is a huge achievement?” the punter said in the email.

The punter went on to call the disclosure “bizarre” and asked, “Are you trying to hate on men in some weird indirect way?”

Read the email in full below:

Weyand posted a screen shot in Instagram Stories

As you would expect from a Brisbane Young Entrepreneur Of The Year nominee, Pixie Weyand has replied to the aforementioned email with a response which can only be described as disciplinary yet constructive.

“Mildly annoyed I am even spending time responding to this BUT i feel some enlightenment is needed on your end,” she wrote. “Firstly just want to say I particularly loved the part about “hating on & taking a stab at men”, you clearly are over analysing that wall way too much.

“I love men, a whole lot actually, I think they are very useful (at times).”

Weyand went on to write that while The Zoo is her venue and she can write what she likes on its walls, a young businesswoman’s success in the music industry is nothing to be scoffed at. Nor is it to be deemed a sign of misandry.

Weyand took over The Zoo in 2016 when its original co-owner Joc Curran passed her the baton. Weyand’s sign on the venue’s walls was originally meant as a homage to Joc.

“The Zoo was created in 1992, It was hard enough for a 25 year old female to go out and start a business on her their own in the early 90’s, let alone in the music industry which is one of the most difficult and cut-throat industries in existence,” Weyand wrote.

Pixie Weyand wrote the above to honour the venue’s previous owner Joc Curran

“Besides all of that, The Zoo is located in Fortitude Valley and in the 90s it was rough as guts, and a hub for junkies and gangs PLUS on top of all of that and importantly The Zoo was the very first of its kind in Brisbane,” she continued.

“The Zoo broke barriers, tore down stereotypes and succeeded.”

In the next few months alone the venue will play host to some of the most respected names in music including The Lemonheads, San Cisco and Thirsty Merc – not to mention the fact The Zoo becomes a rite of passage for emerging artists during BIGSOUND each year.

Weyand also outlined the fact that “all of the most prominent and iconic music venues in the country are owned by men, groups and large corporations.”

Weyand said she is the only solo female to own a major live music venue in Australia.

Weyand went on to prove her most poignant point yet, the fact that in her case, a minority has achieved success “despite traditional hardships, stereotypes and barriers”.

“It’s a message and actually a subtle one at that for those who choose to read it,” she wrote. “We want to encourage other minorities and set an example that they can do the same no matter how daunting it might seem.”

It’s apposite to say that the person who took the time to write the initial email to The Zoo may not quite grasp the many truisms in Weyand’s reply. But Weyand put it best when she said:

“No idea if this will make any difference to you whatsoever, but one can only hope.”