Contact: Lisa Deffendall • First Posted: Wednesday, March 24, 2010

Horse Mania 2010 is going to school. Or, more precisely, the offspring of Lexington’s favorite fiberglass horses are galloping off to classrooms across Fayette County.

Horse Play for Arts Education is a spinoff of LexArts’ popular public arts project. Horse Mania, which debuted in 2000, is back for a second run in honor of the Alltech FEI World Equestrian Games. Local artists are decorating near-to-life-size horses to display around the city; the horses later are auctioned to benefit sponsor-designated charities and LexArts public arts projects.

Horse Play will work along the same principle, with the auction proceeds going to the schools’ art programs and to LexArts’ Youth Arts Council.

Each school could submit as many as four proposals to decorate a foal (elementary and middle) or a horse (high schools) in a standing or prancing pose. An arts panel then selected one design per school, and the schools solicited sponsors to defray their projects’ costs.

“A hands-on project like Horse Play taps into kids’ creativity, opens their minds and encourages them to explore new means of expression,” said schools superintendent Stu Silberman, who thanked all the art teachers for their enthusiasm. “Plus, it’s a great boost for school morale. It gives everyone something to rally around and be proud of.”

The Horse Play entries will be on public display from June through the World Equestrian Games, which close in early October. Jim Clark, the president and CEO of LexArts, said the horses will likely be placed in a handful of clusters around town, situated near their particular schools.

“Programs like Horse Play are a great way to educate kids not just about the making of art, but about what it takes to make art happen in the real world,” he said. “We want to demonstrate the positive impact of providing this type of creative outlet.”