Ok, so you DO want someone else to stump up. It doesn't matter what they do in other countries - it isn't going to happen here.

In fact of course it does happen here. Many festivals are subsidised in the form of lottery grants, regional arts subsidies, by tourist boards and so on. Artists are booked who are able to access suitable grants - who then during a festival visit schools or set up education projects. Local authorities subsidise festivals.

Applying and getting these things is amongst other things what festival organisers do and the great art of a festival organiser to access these things. This sort of work goes on without anyone noticing. I believe Sheffield Folk Festival was supported to the tune of £multi-thousand for example last year.

However opera-goers and ballet-goers and theatre-goers do not pay the full price for tickets and would scream and scream until they were sick if they had to. For all sorts of reasons traditional music in this country has little access to these sorts of seats of power. Personally I feel a slight change for the better. But it is a long slow grind.