My question is about the decorated pigs that can be seen around the city lately. I assumed they were the latest in the series that included the Party Animals and Pandamania, so I checked the DC Commission on the Arts and Humanities website. I couldn’t find any info, though. What are these mysterious piggies and where did they come from?

DCist actually noted these little piggies in a morning roundup a week or so ago after a reader uploaded a pic into the DCist Flikr photo community, but since then we have been asked multiple times about these adorable porkers and have seen two ourselves, so apparently they are a hot topic around town and are demanding our attention.

So here’s the deal. There are 15 of these 750-pound decorated pigs throughout town, painted by local artists and District junior high students. The project is sponsored by Capitol One as part of the company’s Stash Your Cash financial literacy program.

The program promotes financial education and teaches the value of savings to middle and junior high school students.

Students from participating D.C. public schools and local artists designed and painted the four-foot tall piggy bank statues. Each participating artist submitted an original design for the piggy bank statue that represents or conveys the artist’s perspective of financial education and the importance of finding a balance between saving, sharing, and spending.

In addition to providing program educators for the classrooms, the company also pledged to donate $35,000 to each participating school. The pigs were placed on May 6 and will remain on display for six weeks (around June 15). Capital One offers a map and gallery so you can see all 15 statues. Northwest Passages has a brief bit on the history of the piggy bank in its May 18 article (PDF) on the program.