the fact is, no one makes an artist apply for funding. If people want to stay out of the funding quagmire (having just completed a G4TA applicaton today, I am well aware of the quagmire), that's fine. They can stay within the boundaries that make them happy, and good luck to them. But why this suspicion of people who want to do something different?

I'm not sure what this "pattern" is supposed to be: innovation? Risk-taking? Collaboration? Well, crikey. Run away now. Goodness knows we can't have any of that in folk music.