Organizers of Spotlight Lexington 2010 are looking to drum up local participation in the festival that will coincide with the World Equestrian Games.

At a press conference Tuesday afternoon, Mayor Jim Newberry and LexArts president and chief executive Jim Clark announced a poster contest for the festival. They also showed off a new WEG icon.

A 12-foot-tall topiary in the shape of a horse arrived on the lawn of the Robert F. Stephens Courthouse Plaza downtown. The sculpture, which will feature various yet-to-be-determined plantings, will be permanently anchored on the lawn of the plaza that is closest to Main Street and the courthouse, facing the Central Library.

"This is another visual reminder that the Alltech FEI World Equestrian Games are coming," Newberry said.

It's also a reminder to local artists to get busy making posters or applying to be participants in the Spotlight Festival, Sept 24 to Oct. 10, 2010, at three outdoor venues downtown.

The poster contest is open to artists of all ages and abilities, and entries are due June 26. The poster contest will be judged by several art professionals, including Clark; Georgetown College art department chair Julie Decker; and Mike Deetsch, the Lexington Art League's exhibits and programs director.

The winning entry will become the official poster for the festival.

Clark said the winning artist "will come to the attention not only of local and national individuals but individuals from around the world."

Since announcing Spotlight last month, Krista Greathouse, a WEG liaison in Newberry's office, said she had received four or five completed applications from entertainers, and she expected many more as the application deadline for that program, July 1, approaches.

Applications are available at www.lexingtonky.gov.