Gripe.

Charities are used extensively in scamming Artistes - today, there are as many 'charities' vying for a performer's 'free' services as there are genuine charities that need them. There are so many event companies out there now that get artistes to do performances in the name of charity. And here's the beauty of the situation - they charge the charity for organising the event, but they don't pay a single cent to the Artistes; after all, aren't they performing out of the goodness of their hearts?

I don't believe in doing free shows - a free show only serves to devalue the performer and the material that he performs. As of late, I tend to be more critical of the charities that I choose - after all the NKF scandals and crap, it really raises the heckles every time I hear the word 'charity' tossed about like a turkey sandwich; it just means we as performers/entertainers need to be more discerning who we choose to work for. I think it applies especially so for Magicians. Most events view magicians as somewhat of a nuisance - you know, it always gets down to the point at the end of the budget meeting they go, "Hmmm, how much is left? Do we want to squeeze in a magician?". We kind of fall into the category of 'nice to have but it's okay without'. Hence, it is easy to forget that magicians are entertainers too!

Anyway, as I was saying, I don't believe in doing free shows. I DO believe however, in making donations and I know that I am working directly for the beneficiaries of a particular charity, I would consider it a donation of a show. There is a huge difference between performing for free and donating a show. In the latter, it serves to build goodwill and also transfers the cost of the show to myself - hence a donation. In the former, I'm doing a show at NO COST - it cheapens the material I perform and is an insult to magic. It is also more professional - it implies that I take what I do seriously and the quality of my magic will not suffer just because I am not collecting money for a show. It also makes a lot of sense to me - what kind of charity am I doing if it costs me nothing at all? It's like Bill Gates giving a million dollars to any charity organisation - it means nothing; the money (a considerably huge sum by most standards of common folk - such as myself) is not even an insignificant dent in his garguantum bank account.

People associate cheap stuff with low quality; FREE usually means NO QUALITY. Even if you do not intend to charge for your next charity show (and you shouldn't if you're sincere about doing the charity - it should cost you SOMETHING), do make it clear that the show isn't FREE - it cost YOU something.