Marje,
I see no reason why clubs and festivals can't exist side by side - they always did. I heard some of the legendary singers at Keele, Loughborough, Sutton Bonnington, Whitby - et al, but, while the performances were great, they were oh so impersonal - a long week-end of concerts with a few singarounds thrown in - and they might as well have been held on Saturn for all the local input we got.
"they now serve a "folk community" whatever that means. I think the last thing folk needs at the moment is a bunch of folkies who "Vant to be alone" - or at least, among their own kind. If the folk music scene is ailing, as I believe it to be, the last thing it needs is isolation from the world in general (unless it has contacted cholera,).
I've never been to any of the Wren Trust knees-ups, but I know and respect some of the people involved and know their links with the local community - not the feed-back I am getting from some of the comments here.
"but sessions are thriving, and far more abundant than a few decades ago."
Is this true, do you think? I was involved in singaround-type clubs a few decades ago. I preferred the more structured ones, but that's me.
I believe a well-run club with residents who don't fall below a set (not unreachable) standard will achieve more in one night than all your festivals and star guests rolled into one - and it's far more satisfying to make something work yourself rather than get somebody in to do it for you, or swan off once a year to be with annually familiar faces.
Jim Carroll