An avant-garde scene can run for a full year before mainstream critics discover it.

Evidence

Sun Ra played Slugs’ for a year before white critics caught on. In February 1967, Wilson reported that “a ten-piece jazz band without precedent in outlook, appearance and performance is performing Monday nights at Slugs’.” Wilson recognized that Sun Ra was a precursor to the jazz avant-garde who also incorporated jazz tradition. — J. Hoberman, Everything Is Now, 900