We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Noah Levine a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Noah, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today We’d love to hear the backstory behind a risk you’ve taken – whether big or small, walk us through what it was like and how it ultimately turned out.

The biggest risk I’ve taken during my career as a magician is choosing to have a career as a magician. Being self-employed and/or running your own business is always going to be dicey. Add arts into the mix and you’ve got a heck of a wall to scale. I try to focus on the immediate tasks at hand, work through emails, get practice time in, and some long-term planning. Without some good structure, the overall sense of risk can be overwhelming

Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers.

I make my living performing magic shows. This includes a show I’ve been presenting in NYC for the last 10 years called Magic After Hours which takes place at a one-hundred-year-old magic shop called Tannen’s. I also perform at private events and sometimes consult for stage and screen when a production needs an actor to perform some kind of magic or sleight-of-hand.

How can we best help foster a strong, supportive environment for artists and creatives?

It’s very important to learn how to filter advice and criticism. Everyone has an opinion, and it is simply impossible to incorporate everything that people say to you. But it’s also important to find people whose opinions you trust.

Can you share a story from your journey that illustrates your resilience?

When Covid-19 lockdowns began. My entire work life vanished. I kept busy for about a week making videos for Instagram. Then an opportunity came up to do some virtual magic shows. I built an entirely new show for the format and ended up with the busiest performing schedule I’d ever had. It was a wild pivot and felt like being dropped onto an entirely different planet. I hope to never have to do something so extreme again, but I’m proud of the work I did, and I return to it whenever I need to activate reserves of creativity and/or resilience.

Contact Info:

• Website: Show MagicAfterHours.com
• Instagram: @NoahJLevine Instagram
• Other: Noah@NoahLevineMagic.com