Arts and Entertainment

Saturday's 7 p.m. show will feature two acoustic acts, 10 comedians and a video game tournament. Proceeds from the event go to Stop Bullying AZ, a citywide initiative to protect students from bullying.

The planters lining Lower Grand Avenue following last fall's streetscape project will soon get a makeover by local artists. The Grand Avenue Members' Association is organizing community members and artists to decorate and maintain the gray planters.

{9} The Gallery, located on Grand Avenue, hosted the first Fridays at {9} show that featured the work of local painters, poets, rappers and other artists.

Andrew Pielage, a local Phoenix photographer, has started a workshop for aspiring photographers that teaches basic skills with practice in settings downtown.

The Japanese Friendship Garden, located in downtown Phoenix, hosted fifth annual ikebana exhibit from Jan. 31-Feb 2.

Hosts Jayson Chesler and Miguel Otarola discussed upcoming and ongoing arts and entertainment events, including "The Seven Layers of Bastian Bachman," various concert and theater events and more.

Luthiers build and repair stringed instruments, and the school on Grand Avenue is one of the few accredited schools for this practice in the country. More than 2,000 students have graduated since the school opened in 1975.

"The Seven Layers of Bastian Bachman," which runs through Sunday at the Icehouse, features different scenes in various rooms to emulate the experience of brain disorders such as dementia from the inside and out.

Amanda Crawford has always been a multi-tasker in life, so balancing teaching duties at the Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and musical ones with her band Former Friends of Young Americans is no trouble. Crawford is an established journalist, with experience at the Arizona Republic and Bloomberg.

The Performance in the Borderlands' Banned Play Series aims to tackle social issues, such as LGBTQ and race rights, through play readings. Some of the topics covered in the plays touch on taboo subjects such as bestiality and incest, with the goal of fostering conversation among the audience.