Magical Experiences Arts Company

11/20/2025

Last night at RICA-Baltimore, students were really struggling with their mental health, so I only had one student show up for the show, along with one staff member. We were going to experience life within the Warsaw Ghetto, moments before it's liquidation. I can truly say it was one of the most moving and emotionally intense shows I have had at RICA in a while. All three of us were dealing with loss, and we supported and comforted each other throughout. I am so deeply grateful for this connection. One of the most difficult decisions I have had this season is to realize that it was time to close the RICA residency. After 29 years serving students with severe emotional disturbances, I no longer have the recreational dept. or administration support that is needed to meet the goals of this program. MEAC's last show will be on December 17th. I have had the gift of working with some of the best Recreational specialists in the world! Mark Strube, Jack Rose, Val Hickson, Mike Poysna. The many of hundreds of students that opened their hearts and minds, and trusted the MEAC artists to offer healing to them will stay with me forever. RICA was family, embracing my son as a toddler backstage with a box of toys, then later as an undergraduate student, he worked at RICA weekends and completed his Phys. Ed. internship there. RICA will always be part of MEACs proud history.
I truly believe at this time in MEAC's journey, that our residencies must step up and provide the right environment for our methods. I appreciate Katie Bryan over at Chimes for communicating with staff about expectations during the performances. I have grave concerns that MEAC's standards of excellence are being undermined by our current residencies. Our students and residents deserve better.
A wonderful memory of painting the RICA girls at the end of a season two decades ago! To all our RICA students - thank you for letting us bring magic into your lives

08/15/2025

Look at the home page of MEAC's website - we are celebrating the big 40!!!!

Magical Experiences Arts Company 1986 – 2026 40th SeasonMEAC is an ‘Arts serving’ organization that provides innovative

08/14/2025

Oh my gosh, only a few weeks to go before MEAC opens up the school residencies. Since returning from England I have been in a home based Buddhist retreat, learning from Venerable Ajahn Sona on the Metta Sutra, Buddha's teaching on Loving-kindness. It has truly been a life enhancing retreat, I am so deeply grateful for the teachings, I hope very much that I will take loving-kindness into each show even more than previous years. It was the Buddha who said that in turbulent times, we have a greater chance of enlightment! so be it!
Thanks to teacher Katie Bryan, we have the Chimes School schedule all done, I will going into the Baer School on August 25th to plan out classroom schedules and meet the new staff. RICA needs some work, I am hoping to move it to daytime hours, to better accommodate the students needs. This is such a milestone year for MEAC, 40 years, it will be an opportunity to thank all those who have in some way made this milestone possible. Nothing is achieved by just one person, it does take a village, and MEAC has been so fortunate to have many villages help in it's mission.
One of those villages has been the National Endowment for the Arts, our Federal Government Arts organization. I am thrilled to let you all know that just last week, MEAC was awarded an NEA grant for the coming season! I am so grateful, it means we have the resources to carry out our Maryland season as planned and return to the Texas School for the Blind & Visually Impaired next May with The Kindness of Ravens.
I leave you with one Metta teaching - Radiate out Loving-Kindness to all beings, see even your enemies as a supreme teacher, who leads you on the path to Nirvana. I look forward so much to seeing all my friends at the schools, and here's to a magnificent school year ahead

06/06/2025

Shantel and Andre, our Raven actors!

06/06/2025

Today we celebrated our first ever Arts Day at the William S. Baer School. Four of our magnificent students took to the stage and performed a 22 minute version of The Kindness of Ravens. I am so deeply grateful to all who helped make this a very special event. Ms. Carter, with her fabulous dancing students, just beautiful, Mr. Robinson, who enables our students to express themselves through the visual arts, Mr. Davis, who filmed the event and streamed into our 21 classrooms. To my stage helpers, Mr. Rudolf and Ms. Dawn ( your support to our students was beyond special). To our Baer School Partnership Director, Ms. Jackie, for encouraging us to embark on such an event, and of course, to our Principal, Mrs. Moore, your aspirations and ambitions for our students inspires MEAC to continue our mission and devotion to the Baer Family.
What a season! The Kindness of Ravens - the expansion of the Baer School program ( thank you Early Learning for nagging me constantly for years - finally you have your program!) The changes we made to the Chimes program worked exceptionally well, I was able to connect with every single student this year. Broadmead doubled it's shows, and RICA- Baltimore and Texas School for the Blind brought both challenges and magical achievements.
I am so grateful to everyone who supported MEAC this year - Maryland State Arts Council, National Endowment for the Arts, Baltimore City Public Schools, RICA, Chimes, TSBVI, John J. Leidy Foundation, Delaplaine Foundation.
Taking a short break back home to England, and then I will be back to start planning the 40th anniversary season. This is going to be a very emotional season, celebrating 4 decades of connection, therapeutic and educational development. I look forward to seeing current friends and past friends from MEAC's American history at our events. Mr. Rudolf sent me some lovely photos of our Baer School actors! Enjoy the summer - see you all soon

05/19/2025

MEAC is back from the Texas School for the Blind & Visually Impaired - a HUGE thank you to all the students and staff, who helped make our 8th visit to the school such a great success. It was truly an honor to perform with the students, it was intense at times, emotionally, the students expression went deep into the challenges of their disabilities. But all were supported and nurtured, and we came out the other end with strength, courage and a great sense of achievement. TSBVI is a magical place to perform, it's state of the art campus should be a blueprint for special education all over the country.
Well that's the good news - now to the difficult news. It is official that the National Endowment for the Arts are not awarding grants from their Art Grant program. The loss, not just to MEAC, but too many thousands of artists/ organizations will be dramatic. The assault on America's Humanities and Art fields aligns with previous authoritarian regimes. I am still processing this news, especially because the NEA staff have been so supportive of the MEAC program over the decades. These individuals care deeply about communities, both rural, and urban. They were advocates for the Arts changing lives, whether it be the disabled, youth, Vets, seniors, even current military families.
This is difficult news, along with MEAC losing it's Baltimore City grant - I have work to do to make up the shortfall of $16,000! I know bigger, more famous organizations will be able to turn to national foundations to make up the shortfall. MEAC has never been able to secure funding from these granters, so we will have to turn to local Maryland based Foundations, and of course to our residencies for help. MEAC has survived many recessions, 2 immigrations, a pandemic, I just hope we can survive the Trump presidency, our participants need us more than ever!

12/27/2024

Happy Holidays to all! I hope all my friends are enjoying this very special time of year. Magical Experiences completed it's eight week premier season of The Kindness of Ravens at the William S. Baer School. It was such a joy to perform the new Play for our beautiful Baer students and staff. What a blast! I loved playing the Raven, the Play really does celebrate the past 39 years of MEAC's journey, from London to Baltimore! The Play will now go out to RICA, Chimes School and Broadmead, before returning to Baer School's Early Learning classrooms.
I am deeply thankful to the Maryland State Arts Council for commissioning Wide Angle Media to produce a short documentary film about MEAC. We had a very successful filming day at Baer School on December 11th, and we are booked to film at Broadmead, and an in-studio ballet/ interview day. I am looking forward to sharing the finished film with everyone in 2025.
Not all news is good, unfortunately MEAC's application into the Baltimore Office of Promotion & the Arts was declined. The first time in 29 years! I am greatly disappointed in the grant panel - how they can decline a small, but essential grant to support our Baer and Chimes students is beyond me. No other performing arts organization achieves what MEAC does for our severely disabled students. It doesn't stop with the City, I also have had many issues regarding the Baltimore County Commission on the Arts, also a supporter of MEAC's work for 28 years. I have doubts that MEAC will receive funding from them due to bad communication and mismanagement on their part. Phew! it is going to be a challenging year for funding, not good timing as we finally reached a crazy expansion number at Baer - 93 shows this year.
So life at times is like climbing a steep mountain, we cannot always catch our breathe, our legs hurt and we just want to sit down and rest. But if we reach the top, we can look out across the breathtaking landscape, and celebrate our achievements. With all these challenges MEAC faces, along with the uncertainty of 2025, I think I will begin the new year with a rotation at Baer School of Tibet - to the Mountaintop. I was planning on performing a portrait of the golem, but that does not feel right to me right now. Tibet is a Play that centers itself on our ability to journey through suffering and reach the top of the mountain, holding wisdom and compassion close to our hearts. So I wish you all a happy and healthy new year, and let's begin this new journey!

10/27/2024

Rich's portrait of my character, the Raven!

10/27/2024

The Play even has a hurdy gurdy, especially made in Poland for MEAC!

10/27/2024

A fantastical Tale for our students!

10/27/2024

Love the energy and expression of the Baer students!

10/27/2024

This Play has it all, 16th Century English history, Native American folktale, and of course one of America's greatest writers and poets - Edgar Allen Poe!