Flamboyant foals gallop back into town for Horse Mania 2022. Here’s what to know
Horse Mania, and the band of colorful, hand-painted thoroughbreds that make the public art event a local favorite, is back in Lexington with flamboyant foals turning up all around downtown.
The original Horse Mania, which tapped local artists to decorate life-size fiberglass horse statues, launched in 2000 and returned again in 2010 for the Alltech FEI World Equestrian Games at the Kentucky Horse Park.
LexArts organizers planned to bring back the foals in 2020, but the pandemic shelved those plans.
Ultimately, the delay allowed the civic group to bring them back in time for its 50th anniversary this year.
Here’s what you need to know about Horse Mania 2022.
Horse Mania’s iconic painted foals made their debut at The Henry Clay Estate during a series of private and public showings between June 16-18. This year’s presenting sponsors are Maker’s Mark and Keeneland.
The horse sculptures have since been moved to various spots around downtown Lexington, though LexArts recently took to its Facebook account to complain of some individuals riding or vandalizing the artworks.
Each hand-painted piece depicts a theme. For example, the three you can find at the intersection of East Main Street and South Martin Luther King Boulevard show a horse decked in a quilted pattern, another painted with various street signs and a third covered in blossoming blue roses.
The pieces will be on display through to the November Breeders’ Cup at Keeneland and will be auctioned off in December.
“Judging by the impact of Horse Mania 2000 and 2010, Horse Mania 2022 is an odds-on favorite to be another stellar public art project for the streets of Lexington, and one of the largest auxiliary attractions to the Breeders’ Cup, guaranteed to charm and delight an estimated 50,000-plus visitors,” the LexArts media advisory said.
How does it raise money for the local arts community?
According to Maury Sparrow, the spokesperson for LexArts, various sponsorship packages are available, ranging between $7,500 to $15,000.
Organizers put out a call for artists, and this year 200 applied, entering more than 400 submissions, Sparrow said. Submitted themes are entirely up the artist, who also receives a $3,000 stipend for their work.
That portfolio of 400-plus submissions is distributed to the event’s sponsors, and the first to pay in full gets the pick of the litter. Sparrow said each horse costs between $1,500 and $2,000 to produce.
During its first run in 2000, LexArts said the event grossed upwards of $1 million. That money was used to help seed public art in Lexington, including some of its first iconic murals.
In 2010, Horse Mania raised $600,000, a smaller amount organizers attributed to the recession.
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This story was originally published June 29, 2022 at 10:26 AM.