The folk revival of the early 1960's led to a greater appreciation of these traditions and a more concerted effort to keep them going and preserve them both by academic scholars and by members of the communities themselves. Let's go home and do our own festival. A. Festivals and competitions have done a big part. If you play old time music and want to win at Galax, or you play Irish music and want to win at the fleadh, or you are a songwriter and want to win at Kerrville, you've got to be really good and work really hard. These competitions have their drawbacks, but they do keep musicianship at a high level.
Festivals allow people to hear a wide variety of music for one admission fee.
The good ones bring in established artists to draw people and newer ones to keep the event from getting stale. Most folk and ethnic festival presenters love the music and make a conscious effort to keep it healthy. It depends on the style. I think that many contemporary songwriters are crafting their own history based on the musical and lyrical freedoms that artists like Bob Dylan, the Beatles and Joni Mitchell introduced in the 1960's and 1970's. I don't think these younger artists are particularly interested in Woody Guthrie or the Stanley Brothers or other earlier folks, nor should they necessarily be.