Abracadabra… and Then the Magic Happens
With Chicago poised to become the world’s most dazzling home for modern magic, it is appropriate to spotlight the impact of magic in some often under-served populations.
For children with disabilities, achievements of daily living, such as tying shoelaces, dressing oneself, are monumental for the child, and praised by parents, but do not invoke the jaw-dropping astonishment of a parent whose disabled child has made a coin magically disappear.
Project Magic: developed by David Copperfield alongside Occupational Therapist Julie DeJean in 1982, demonstrates how performed, taught magic acts can improve dexterity, concentration and communication.
Magic performances for parents and friends in rehabilitation centers have included the children in formal black tie and gowns, to the delight of all.
As David Copperfield said to the Canadian National Post in 2003 “The reactions you get from parents and patients are more rewarding that a standing ovation at the Emmy awards”
“The world’s most dazzling home for modern magic”? And why may that be?
Recently opened is The Hand & the Eye in Chicago, that magnificent storied McCormick Mansion “reimagined for magic” as described on its website. The transformation to the glorious elegant venue (formerly the Lawry’s Prime Rib) is the brainchild of the quiet visionary Glen Tullman. The 36,000 square-foot estate on Ontario Street is upscale with resident magicians together with visiting magicians from all over the world. Some 39 rooms are available for magic experiences for the guests dressed in finery. Curated experiences are coordinated with dinner.
There is magic in the air in Chicago, as this new venue opens. We are all enchanted with magic. Many of us employ magicians for parties, for both adults and children. We attend magic shows using the sleight of hand, those quick clever and deceptive hand movements to fool audiences. That old Norse word slægð, meaning cunning craftiness or dexterity gives the origin for sleight of hand.
“Magicians are the most honest people in the world. They tell you they’re going to fool you, and then they do it.”
James Randi
The opening of The Hand & The Eye has evoked attention to magic in Chicago, in general, but also magic specifically for not usually served populations:
Open Heart Magic
This program of magic for hospitalized children, engages those children by teaching magic tricks and contributing to some level of empowerment at critical times in their treatment. Mastery can overcome some feelings of helplessness.
The volunteer magicians, having attended the Magic University, are not professional magicians, but are trained in the 12 week program in how to engage sick kids, how to perform and teach magic, with a goal of transforming young patients into laughing kids again. Not everyone who applies to become a Certified Hospital Magician, is accepted for the training or is suitable. Aside from reliability, the temperament of the bedside magician is very special, with magicians being taught guidelines from Child Life, social work and pediatric infection control staff, with careful use of new materials and protocols. The next Magic University Training for volunteers in Chicago will be in 2027.
When in 2003, founder Mike Walton brought his energy, humor, and sleight-of-hand magic tricks to kids at Rush University Medical Center in Chicago, he quickly realized that magic was the perfect vehicle for engaging these young patients. In 2025, some 8408 kids were involved in Open Heart Magic, together with an additional 16,158 adults, parents, guests, siblings, and other visitors.
Open Heart Magic was officially registered as a not-for-profit (NFP) organization and received the tax-exempt 501(c)(3) status of a charitable foundation through the pro bono legal assistance of Jenner & Block.
Now, with nine hospital partners, each year the Certified Hospital Magicians reach hospitalized kids in Chicago, one-to-one, at their hospital bedsides. You will find Open Heart Magicians in these Chicago hospitals:
- Advocate Children’s Hospital — Oak Lawn
- Advocate Children’s Hospital — Park Ridge
- Ann & Robert H. Lurie Children’s Hospital
- Ascension Saint Alexius Women and Children’s Hospital
- Central DuPage Hospital
- Loyola University Medical Center
- Northshore Evanston Hospital
- Rush University Medical Center
- University of Chicago Comer Children’s Hospital
To make the programs successful, a strong partnership with each hospital is critical. Open Heart Magic has collaborated with hospital staff to ensure that all hospital requirements and clinical considerations are built into the Magic University training and Bedside Magic programming.
While many charity programs are geared to see only certain patients, Hospital Bedside Magic® is committed to reaching every sick kid in a hospital. The volunteer Hospital Magicians are trained to adapt their magic interactions for kids in burn units, protective isolation rooms, oncology, neurology, and throughout the hospital. They see all kids — regardless of their physical or cognitive limitations — because they believe every child deserves to experience the healing, therapeutic power of magic.
Although the focus here has been on Open Heart Magic in Chicago, there are equally robust locations in Ann Arbor MI and Cleveland OH.
Find out more - especially charity events related to Open Heart Magic, the Gala in November 2026 in Chicago, at openheartmagic.org
David Copperfield’s Project Magic is part of the lineage that led to where the field of magic in rehabilitation is now. His program was an early signal of what magic could do in rehabilitation.
Meet Kevin Spencer, PhD, a former award-winning illusionist whose company of Hocus Focus™ has the framework of Magic Therapy® (magictherapy.com). It’s a peer-reviewed, AOTA-approved program (American Occupational Therapy Association) that uses magic tricks to build fine motor, cognitive, communicative, and social skills in clinical occupational therapy practice. David Copperfield is a good friend and supporter of the Magic Therapy® program.
KevinSpencerLive.com and MagicTherapy.com
Kevin now develops evidence-based, magic-based therapeutic and educational programs (Magic Therapy® and Hocus Focus™) for under-served populations. He holds appointments at Harvard Medical School and the University of Alabama at Birmingham, and his work reaches occupational therapy, special education, and the performing arts. The concepts of Magic Therapy® are used in more than 1,500 hospitals and rehabilitation centers across the USA and 30 countries around the world.
Some quotes concerning magic
“You know what the issue is with the world? Everyone wants a magical solution to their problem, and everyone refuses to believe in magic.”
Lewis Carroll, Alice in Wonderland
Magic can be found in all areas of life, be it the wonderment of a flower opening, the sunlight streaming through the clouds, the leaves on trees fluttering or even in the magic of compound interest.
“The magic of compound interest is the eighth wonder of the world. He who understands it, earns it; he who doesn’t, pays it.”
Widely attributed to Albert Einstein, historians and archivists have never found any definitive written record of him actually saying or writing this.
And in closing…
“If you don’t believe in any kind of magic, or mystery, basically, (you’re) as good as dead.”
Albert Einstein
Photos: Jill Lowe / Shutterstock