Magic, Secrets and Wizards.... Oh My!

Forgive the lag in the postings, but HOLY MOLY have we been busy!

First, we congratulate, once again, our Tony Eng Youth Fund Winner, Jennifer Antonio of Winnipeg. She won an all-expense paid trip from Winnipeg to Kitchener-Waterloo to attend this year's Canadian Magician's Association's (CAM) 2010 convention. Read all about it here.  We are thrilled that this talented young lady was able to attend a national conference, accompanied by her father, Richard, thanks to the generous support of Kent Wong of Edmonton, the CAM and all the supporters and donors of the Tony Eng Youth Fund.

Next, we were delighted to be contacted by our long-time partner, The York School, to provide magic for the annual Grade 7 and 8, Challenge Week, this week May 3 to 7.

Each year, 13 to 15 York School students are secreted away to an undisclosed location and given an intensive, introductory program to performing magic. This year, in addition to the chockful schedule, we also added new guest speakers, 'Vladimir Eisengrim' of The Paranormal Show and magician, Scott McClelland. The shocking and bizarre magic was a great lesson to underscore to our students that knowing the secret is a small part of performing great magic! In addition to learning some crafty magic, students also learned valuable tips and tricks of the trade to being great presenters. We hope these life-skills will serve our students in the future.

Congratulations to this year's York Challenge Students. They not only survived 'Boot Camp Magic' by Magicana, but they also successfully performed six shows for the Lower School at York and for the senior residents at The Belmont House! No small achievement! We applaud this year's graduates for meeting this difficult challenge with energy and enthusiasm. May the magic continue on in your Magic Hands!

Finally, we are thrilled to announce that Magicana will be hosting the 41st annual Magic Collectors Weekend in Chicago, where we are honouring Mike Caveney and George Daily.  We are only five days away from the big event, which will be held May 13 to 16 at the Westin O'Hare in Rosemont (Chicago).

If you have a slight (or, is that sleight?) interest in collecting magic, magic's history or great magicians of the past, you may want to consider joining the Magic Collectors Association. Magicana is the new administrative body taking care of the MCA, its membership and its quarterly publication of Magicol - a serial journal that has been produced and shared with members for fifty years.

So, all in all, the last three weeks have been very busy, but also pretty magical!

We will have more news about Lumainato and the Masters of Magic Series (June 17 to 20), so, be sure to check back soon.