LexArts 50th Celebration & Horse Mania
Date and Time: 12/02/2022 8:00 pm
LexArts will host their 50th Anniversary and Horse Mania Auction on Friday, December 2nd at Keeneland! This sold-out event will be a celebration of their 50 year committment to developing the art culture, advocating and fundraising efforts for the entire art community of Central KY. The event also features custom hand painted whiskey bottles that will be up for auction as well as the Horse Mania hand-painted horses.
Our three Horses of Hope will be on display during the auction in effort to raise additional funds for Kentucky. Read more on our Horses of Hope below!
Commonwealth Compassion: Horses of Hope
In an effort to bring a bit of brightness to the dark devastation in western Kentucky caused by the December 2021 tornado, Independence Bank has partnered with Lexington-based non-profit organization LexArts on a public art display as a form of healing for the Commonwealth.
LexArts, Lexington’s official local arts agency, works to enhance the quality of life through the arts. Its Horse Mania public art project has returned to commemorate the organization’s 50th anniversary. In a unique collaboration with LexArts, Independence Bank has funded three of the 70+ life-size fiberglass horse statues which have been painted and will be exhibited throughout Kentucky. Three local Lexington artists eagerly agreed to work with ten skilled high school art students from the affected areas of Graves, Hopkins and Warren Counties. The groups finalized colorful designs to be painted on the six feet by eight feet white horses. Students and artists spent a weekend at LexArts in March to start on their projects that had been planned out via Zoom meetings for weeks. The main themes of the horses encompass hope, memory and renewal.
The three finished pieces were revealed by Governor Andy Beshear at the State Capitol on Friday, April 29th. The horses traveled across our three affected communities over the summer for an exclusive one-day showing where the public was invited to view them up close. Downtown Lexington hosted the Horses of Hope during the Fall of 2022.
To help raise funds for storm relief, these horses will be feaured at Keeneland—home of the largest Thoroughbred auction house in the world. The event and fundraiser is scheduled for December 2nd which falls around the one-year anniversary of the massive tornado. The horses will then be displayed in the storm-impacted areas of Graves, Hopkins and Warren Counties as a permanent symbol of resilience after the event.