many well qualified who see themselves as the elite and are looking for folk related work and have rarely if ever supported a folk club

Some would say that this is a good thing. With one brother living in France and another in Italy, I am often in these countries and reasonably often go to events and festivals in them. I find that when traditional music events are presented in those countries, particularly in Italy, that many small towns present outdoor folk music concerts in the summer months, but they always seem to be advertised and promoted alongside other music events; they have the feeling of 'mainstream' about them. Even in areas where folk music is strong, like Puglia, there is nothing that is the equivilent of our "folk revival" or "folk clubs" so that the feeling of ghettoisation that I sometimes get in the way we present our music here does not exist.