GUEST,JW

I wonder if, by now, you have read through the rest of this thread. It started with an observation that modern festivals seem to have less fringe/free events than in the past and has also touched on the apparency that some of today's folk festivals struggle for money. Could there be a connection between a dwindling fringe and festivals struggling for money?

More than one poster has expressed the view that fringe participants take more than they give but regular fringe attendees will disagree, and the idea that the fringe would not exist without a financially supported festival can be tested by attending one of the free session fests going on this coming weekend. Try it, you might like it.