Another thing to try would be local bands/music events. If you're actually interested in a local music scene, you don't even need connections at the start - just go to concerts, take photos, be the guy with the camera. If you get any good ones, send them over to the band/organizer, they'll want something to put on their social media, and if you snapped something better than what their friend with a phone did for them, they'll be happy to post it, tag your page.
Once you have some sort of portfolio/connections/reputation, bands need photos somewhat regularly. They need some sort of "press kit" for their social media, for event posters, etc. That needs to be updated when lineups change, when they record something, or just to refresh every 1-2 years or so. And they might want photography/videography once in a while at their events to have something to put up on their social media.
t. not a photography freelancer, but I do music at a semi-pro level, so I've seen this from the other side, where we've hired photographers and paid them decent money.
I guess this can generalize to any event-based hobby/entertainment, I personally just happen to have experience with music. That said, I'd suggest choosing a thing you personally are interested in and would go to the events even if it's not a paid gig for you. You'll likely need to do some "for your portfolio" photography at first, so best if you're getting value out of just going to the event, and you're interested in what you're photographing.
