Jokes aside Im curious as to what magic might offer that other arts don't? And/Or What is your goal in terms of audience outcome? Entertainment? Wonder? What?

one word answers are just as welcome as paragraphs.

thank you for your time and thoughts

Interaction.

a musician can joke with the audience, even invite members on stage.
but a magician can hand them rings or a rope, and THEY become a performer themselves
In a way.

I think that's pretty unique.

Great question. I think I'd say "Astonishment". Or "Wonder".

An audience member might be entertained or even lost in amazement at a musician, or actor, or painter, etc... but they know how these feats are accomplished; skill, practice and dedication (and developed talent) over time.

However with magic, the audience doesn't (or shouldn't) know how the feats are accomplished. It changes the emphasis from appreciation of skill, to appreciation of the unknown. It creates a wholly unique world in the audience's mind, a world that is not shared with any other art form. A world built not from appreciation of skill, but on astonishment and wonder.

What does your magic do foryour audience?

That depends on how and how well it is performed. Having seen hundreds of magicians I can tell you it varies and depends. For some poorly executed magic performances it can create anything from a challenge to disappointment. For a top-notch properly staged and executed performance it can be wonder, amazement and utter fantasy.

Most fall somewhere in between.

Also what one "wants" their outcome or affect to be is often different than what actually occurs.

First and foremost it should be entertaining. An escape and exceeding expectation.

Long ago I was told that a magic performance brings hope - that every viewer can imagine having a better life in some way without having to work for it.

Not sure that is true today as many feel entitled to benefits without effort without any need for magic, but
I can pretend that each spectator has their imagination or creativity or sense of awe&wonder tickled a bit if not enhanced.

So, perhaps the hope is now mine - hope that I can figure out what an observer expects of magic and can give a bit more.

I guess I do not thing magic "does" anything to an audience, but can inspire each to do more for themselves.
I do know that having folks challenge what is considered impossible for them personally can be very efficacious.

These are great thoughts, thanks so much and keep em coming

Magic stops the deductive mind. The result is the audience is forced into inductive--what if?--reasoning. Wonder.

I like this question.

Despite attempts over the years, I am not sure at all I have been able to answer it in a way that satisfies me.

My audiences?

Many years ago when I was performing, my cards-and-doves act entertained them for a few minutes and left many of them shaking their heads, going "that was impossible." Maybe they took the story home with them, or maybe not. But I saw a lot of smiles, a lot of "wow" expressions, and a lot of applause at the end.

That was good enough for me. Oh, and getting paid.

I always thought that it is good for intelligent people to see that they can still be deceived. Richard Dawkins said something like that about seeing Penn and Teller's Magic Bullet.

When I see a skillful magic performance (especially live), for me it first creates a sense of wonder, then an intellectual reaction—while my suspension of disbelief is dissipating “wait, what happened?”. And then, when/if I cannot backtrack the method, I have admiration for the performance I just witnessed. That said, I can also appreciate a good performance when I am familiar with the method but the wait what reaction isn’t there.

In my own performances, I want my audience to have a good time foremost (i.e. be entertained) and also for them catch the sense of magic by cleverly and skillfully deceiving them.

Definitely a sense of wonder and an experience of mystery!

Interesting messages, anecdotes, can also be useful in presentations where the audience actually takes a nugget of something away with them. I do this in Life and Zen and And There is Silence, both routines leave the audience with something to think about afterwards.

Whatever routines I perform I always like adding that extra little something, for instance, when performing MOABT I always like to talk about how books are like time machines and it gives me a chance to discuss books, which I love. When performing playing card routines I often like to give people mini readings on the selected card before revealing the card, things like that.

Wherever you can find a way to give an audience something other than "look how amazing I am" it's added value in my opinion. Though there's nothing wrong with a pure demonstration of skill or pure entertainment for the heck of it.

4) Never produce two simultaneous effects, and let no effect be obscured by any subsidiary distraction.

N.M.

In the best cases, they are transformed with a richer sense of wonder and what is actually possible.

The entirely irrational presentation of magic appeals to the entirely irrational right hemisphere of my brain, which goes along with the nonsense for its amusement. The entirely rational means by which the entirely irrational presentation of magic is proved, appeals to the entirely rational left hemisphere of my brain, which critically questions each and every step of the experiment. The magic itself blows my mind because neither hemisphere of my brain can deal with that which is both irrational and rational at the same time. So, by the magic of three, it does me and does me good.