Outgoing Minister of Culture Tõnis Lukas (Isamaa) has signed a regulation ensuring support for the managing teams of participants in the Estonian Song and Dance Festival (Laulupidu). The Estonian Folk Culture Center is to deal with the application rounds, and the first of these will be accepted from March 1. "So far, it has been self-evident that the supervisors prepare the dancers, choirs and orchestras alongside their main job, for a notional salary, based on a sense of mission," Lukas said. "I hope this is an opportunity which is occurring now, to motivate both the younger and current supervisors and then the tradition will continue in its known quality."