Congratulations to our new graduates at Holland Bloorview!

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Congratulations to the latest group of graduates of  My Magic Hands hosted at Holland Bloorview Kids Rehabilitation Hospital.

Our first class started on March 27 led by magicians, Julie Eng and James Alan, and their Big Show on April 12, after only 6 sessions, was a HUGE SUCCESS!

We had a wide range of participants in this session, a GREAT group, who all seemed to enjoy the learning process. It is always touching to see young faces light up when they learn the secrets of how to perfect a magic trick, and to help them realize that they are capable of doing more than what they thought they could do.

We hope our participants continue to explore the magical world and to enjoy every step of their journey !

Volunteers are magic

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There is nothing more inspiring that watching the children from Magicana’s My Magic Hands program. I have been leading this particular program at Holland Bloorview for six years now, and I still can’t get over how amazing it is to see a young student blossom into a confident and charming performer.

Today, we had about 100 people in attendance at the hospital to see The Big Show – a show by students to showcase their favourite magic trick from five weeks of training with our My Magic Hands team. Each performer overcame nervous “butterflies” and really impressed their friends, family and, of course, their magic coaches with stellar performances! Watching these little ones transform over  week by week at the hospital is one of the most rewarding experiences I have had  as a professional magician.

However, as impressive as these children are to me, I also marvel at the power of volunteering and how it impacts participants. We create a supporting role for volunteers in the program by calling them “magic coaches” – and the coaches at Holland Bloorview filled their titles to a tee. We had four volunteers work alongside staff and magic instructors from Magicana, to coach each child through the rigour of learning their magic tricks. Volunteers dutiflly gave their time, energy and encouraging attitudes each week to support their young wards.

Getting up and performing in front of such a large group is a daunting task for most. In fact today, one participant wanted to withdraw from the show. It was heartwarming to see how coaches immediately pounced into action. They rallied behind our wavering magician and quickly melted her nervous fears, enabling her to work through the stage fright and ultimately, to bask in applause. I could not have been more proud.

The secret to our program is the high-level of dedicated volunteers that we have the privilege of working with. To all our volunteers, thank you for giving the invaluable gift of your time –  and for sharing wonder!

Julie Eng,
Executive Director

School’s in Session

As the summer comes to close, we are preparing to begin the fall sessions of our children’s community outreach program, My Magic Hands. In a few short weeks, we will be starting new programs with some of our local community partners. We are pleased to welcome our newest partner:  Boundless Adventures.

Boundless, founded in 1984, is dedicated to improving the lives of marginalized youth, adults and children at risk through a unique combination of counselling, social rehabilitation, alternative education and outdoor adventure. They work in partnership with Ontario-based community agencies, mostly from Toronto, with programs that strive to prevent crime, promote alternatives to drug abuse and strengthen the bonds of families and communities ravaged by poverty, violence and mental illness.

This fall, we will be revisiting perennial community partners: Holland Bloorview Kids Rehabilitation Hospital and Lawrence Heights Middle School. With the help of these partners – and an outstanding group of young volunteers – we will continue to share wonder with many new magicians.

It’s been really busy …

In June, in partnership with Luminato, Magicana presented Juan Tamariz, Mac King, Max Maven and Bob Sheets in Toronto. We also presented three My Magic Hands programs which were timed to conclude to have Luminato guest performer, Bob Sheets close “The Big Show” – a magic show recital by students.

During July we delivered special one-on-one versions of  My Magic Hands at Holland Bloorview, and scheduled an additional summer session to coincide with another visiting guest magician, Rafael Benatar of Spain.

In August, we partnered with Montreal Magic Jam to produce Gaëtan Bloom and Rafael Benatar in an international double-header lecture for both Montreal and  Toronto, which also included intensive card workshops by Rafael Benatar.

We were also thrilled to also produce Jim Steinmeyer’s “Gee 20″ Lecture for Torontonians in August. Jim rarely lectures, so having this creative genius present was an added bonus to Magicana’s summer lecture series.

Steve Forte presenting at 31FN

In addition to these lectures and workshops, Magicana also hosted the eighth, and final instalment, of 31 Faces North – an intimate gathering of 31 (which swelled to more than 40) magicians from around the globe. For four wonderful days, we were treated to first-class lecture presentations, magic performances and, of course, generous sharing. A huge highlight for the group was having Steve Forte come and present something special for the group.

To round off an excellent summer, we just received notice that our latest publication, A Grand Exposé has finally been delivered! As soon as the books arrive to our fulfillment facility in the USA, advance orders will be processed and mailed out – we anticipate September 15 shipping.

This 1860s reprint is truly, a gem of a read. The Advance Order Offer expires at midnight September 10, so if you haven’t already done so, order now before the price goes up!

We now will turn our attentions back to online exhibitions, blogs, another publication (it’s another secret!) and our beloved community  projects with My Magic Hands and Senior Sorcery. We have a full scheduled planned with our community programs and hope to squeeze in one more surprise before the year’s end.