Do You Believe In Magic?
[Source: Ontario Trillum Foundation web site - June 2006]
Abracadabra! Budding magicians listen with rapt attention as Magic Hands volunteers explain the fine points of a card trick.
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Anyone seeing the smiling faces of children in the Magic Hands program believes in magic. Produced by Magicana, a not-for-profit organization dedicated to increasing public awareness and appreciation of the art of magic. Magic Hands workshops teach Toronto-area eight-to-12-year-olds how to find their own personal magic touches, regardless of their backgrounds or abilities.
With help from high-school-student volunteers and support from the Ontario Trillium Foundation (OTF), Magic Hands teacher magicians give groups of 10 to 15 children training in some magic-arts basics. The six-week sessions take place in two-hour intervals, and are held in community centres and care facilities. The grande finale is a live interactive magic show where the children perform for parents, friends and each other. In just two years, 300 budding magicians have completed the course, and an estimated 1,400 people have attended 17 Big Magic Shows.
The A-HA! moment. Magic Hands volunteers show a surprised and delighted magician-in-training that the hand really is quicker than the eye.
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“It’s amazing to see how much the children learn in just six weeks,” says Neda Skific-Lee, program manager at Harbourfront Community Centre, where Magic Hands has been offered several times as a community after-school program. “They become real performers, confident in the trick they are doing and in being able to engage their peers and the audience.” The program at Harbourfront is offered on a first-come-first-served basis, and is always booked to capacity.
With high-quality personal attention, each child is taught to perform a magic trick, but what they learn goes far beyond slight-of-hand. “The children develop self-confidence and self-esteem,” says Skific-Lee.
“The program gives them real experience with the art of performing, and helps them expand their own sense of creativity,” says Julie Eng, Magicana’s director of programming and administration. She explains that the children are encouraged to make up stories to accompany their performances, and interpret or adapt the tricks in ways that make each one unique and personal.
Children who have special needs, either because of language-fluency issues or physical challenges, demonstrate the true magic of the program. A little girl who had just arrived from China would not speak at the beginning of one program. She delivered her entire performance in mime, but in the end was talking with the instructors in English. Another young man who had lost both an arm and a leg was, with the help of an occupational therapist and a Magic Hands volunteer, able to adapt the tricks to deliver them with one hand.
“In magic class, they simply forget their personal challenges,” says Eng. “It’s about ability, not disability. They come to really believe in themselves and that anything is possible if they want to make it so.”
Critical to the program is the role of the volunteers and the enthusiasm they bring, says Eng. High-school students may come into the program to fulfill a course requirement, but a light bulb goes on when they feel the pride that comes from helping someone else learn something new and be successful.
“None of this would be possible without the support that OTF has given Magic Hands,” says Eng. OTF funding was there to help launch the initial pilot project in 2004, and provides for many of the day-to-day operational expenses. With OTF’s assistance, the program reaches more children regardless of their family’s income. It also sends each junior magician home after the wrap-up performance with a personalized magic box where the secret tricks of the trade and any related treasures can be kept.
“People stop and listen,” says Eng. “To even the quietest child, people listen. It’s not always the result that’s important; it’s the process – the learning that becomes a life-long vision of what is possible." Timid eyes light up, small voices become louder, and smiles are flashed with complete abandon. Magic? Maybe. Miracles? Definitely!
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