One friend of mine once wrote a piece to console another friend who had been rejected by a festival program committee. What he said to her was:

A real folksinger doesn't worry about bookings. A real folksinger creates her own venue. On street corners. In campgrounds. In parks. In schools. At parties. At family gatherings. Wherever and whenever the opportunity arises. A real folksinger plays in hospitals, and hospices, and old age homes. A real folksinger plays in prisons, and libraries, and bus stations, and at street fairs. And a real folksinger doesn't whine and bellyache and complain because such and such club or festival wouldn't have her.

It was good advice then, and it still is today. Forget about the so-called folk scene, with its multitude oh-so-petty gate keepers. Instead go out in the world and build a following, and the day will come when those would-be guardians of folkdom beg you to play their house.