Beyond book clubs, what are good ways to meet people with niche interests?

My dating life feels a bit like a lone jellyfish drifting from place to place, never quite finding somewhere to settle.

I'm 27m, fairly arty and l've been living here for four years. I went on about 11 or 12 dates in last 2 years. Most of them were the sort where, from both sides, you could tell pretty quickly there wasn't much hope of it going anywhere.

But the last two dates felt different. For the first time in a while, I could see a bit of sunshine on the horizon.

One of those was yesterday. We spent six hours together laughing, singing and genuinely having a great time. Then this morning i got a text from her saying she really liked me as a person, had the best night out she'd had in ages, but felt that something was missing. So there goes that little dream.

I've been on and off the dating apps for years and tbh the whole cycle is exhausting; matching with someone, starting from scratch, texting to and fro, organising a date, getting your hopes up though inside is fucken hopeless and then doing it all over again.

I deleted the apps today and probably won't go back on them for at least two or three months.

At this point, I'm not even sure if I'll ever find someone I genuinely click with. I'm not into sports, I'm a bit arty and I don't click with many people. That said, I do have a few very close friends who mean a lot to me.

For anyone who's a bit like me, with niche interests and a smaller social circle, are there other ways to meet people? I've tried a book club and I'm meaning to give a cinema club a go. Is there anything else to try?

Sorry for the rant.