Folks,
We've just received the required support to create a weekly program at Advocate Lutheran General in Park Ridge, Illinois.

If you're interested in close-up magic and sleight of hand and would like to take it to the next level by being able to perform as a volunteer on a regular basis and help kids and teens in hospitals, then please read on.

Here are the details:

http://www.volunteermatch.org/results/op......d=301283

You can be a pro, a long time study of magic, someone who is doing street magic, or just someone who has always been interested in performing. You can have experience or have no experience at all – either way, you’ll find your level and be able to work on magic and get better. No matter where you start, you'll go through our intense training in sleight of hand, you'll learn our interactive routines, learn performance skills through actual performances every training session, and also how to work in a hospital, how to engage children and teens and adapt the magic for those who have physical or other restrictions based on their medical situation. Because of this investment in training, introductory and on-going, you’ll need to commit to a year of service with visits approximately twice a month.

This is not child-party magic; it's classic close-up.

No matter who you are, the chance to do magic on a more regular basis will make your performance better. If you have the heart, character and sense of humor to want to do this for kids, the experience of seeing a drastic change in patient's mood, many times helping a patient go from isolation to engaged laughter, because of the magic you've created with the patient, is tremendsouly rewarding and extremely beneficial to the patients and families. So your work will have a strong impact.

We have an amazing group of volunteers, men and women, and we'll crank on close-up collectively and come together to do larger hospital gigs and celebrate the spirit of what we're all doing at Goose Island or Hopleaf or wherever. We grow very slowly as we're building community support but also to ensure our folks are the best prepared to perform and engage through the use of magic. We experience very low turn-over amongst our volunteer magicians. You’ll be equipped with solid close-up routines for kids, teens and adults, hospital magician clothing, supplies, introductory and on-going training.

This program is a sponsored program meaning that you'll be able to perform magic one-on-one and you'll also teach children and teens magic at their bedsides and provide the supplies necessary for them to perform the magic you just shared.

To give you an idea of the caliber of the magic taught, we get contacted regularly by those who see us at special events where we’ll table hop for a selected charity or hospital festival. Because of our focus on interaction and personal engagement (which any good table hopper will tell you is what magic is about), we’ve been offered long standing gigs because guests remember that our magicians are focused on people having a good time, on having a memorable engagement. Know that these magicians are brand new – many have NO experience in magic; they've passed our training and they have a sense of humor and the ability to ham it up and perform. This is not child party magic – it’s a mixture of visual street magic and classic magic plots and routines.

Please PM me or shoot me an email at mwalton@openheartmagic.com if you’re interested. Thanks for looking. If you're reading this listing many months or years from the original post and have interest, shoot me an email then as well. We're slowly and smartly expanding but are indeed growing and I would love to chat.