Ron Olesko writes (edited):
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This is exactly the model that was used at the 1963, 1964 and 1965 Newport Folk Festivals, which first brought traditional music to a city audience. The Advisory Board, which included our own Jean Ritchie as well as other traditional music supporters like Mike Seeger, decided that "big names" like Bob Dylan, Joan Baez, Peter Paul & Mary, Pete Seeger, etc. should be used as "bait" to bring in large crowds; those crowds were then treated to Roscoe Holcolmb, Mississippi John Hurt, Clarence Ashley & Doc Watson, Bill Monroe & the Bluegrass Boys, Son House, Dewey Balfa and a Cajun band from Louisiana, and so forth. The evening concerts were structured so that big names and traditional artists played to the same audiences, while the daytime workshops for primarily traditional artists were usually *hosted* by big names. The big names all agreed to perform for the *exact same fee* as everyone else (dim memory says it was $50 per day plus expenses, but I am willing to be corrected on that); the money that was saved by NOT paying Baez, Dylan and PP&M their usual many thousands in concert fees was then able to be used to pay the travel costs to bring traditional artists in from Mississippi, Texas, the Appalachians, etc.
For those of us who love traditional music (and are old enough to have attended!,)those three festivals were a miraculous and life-changing experience never since duplicated.