The Arts Council of Northern Ireland has awarded Nikola Arkane their Major Individual Artist award, which gives her £15,000 to continue her study of manipulation with Hyunjoon Kim in South Korea. She is the first artist from the world of magic/variety arts who has received the award, and the funding will allow her to go to Korea two additional times in 2026.
Nikola, who is a renowned kid magician with her persona FizzWizzPop, has always loved manipulation. “It makes my heart joyous inside. It makes me sing,” she told THE EYE. “To me, it is real magic when a ball changes to a card, changes to a wand. It’s just glorious.” She saw Hyunjoon Kim perform and was blown away by his skill and expression. Serendipitously, he also shared that he was open to mentoring people. Nikola emailed, and he agreed to teach her. All she had to do was get to Korea.
Traveling and staying in the country to do so, however, was no small financial feat. The Arts Council was already on her radar because she received a stipend from them during the pandemic that allowed her to buy equipment to create virtual shows for children. She realized that the Council could provide her additional, and more significant, support.
“All my friends who have been in musical theater, in the arts, that’s what they do. That’s how they survive,” she said. “They get their pay through [arts organizations], they come up with projects, and they get a funder to come on board and help. And that’s when I realized, ‘Oh, wow, we magicians can do that too.’”
To that end, Nikola applied to a smaller grant the Arts Council issued. She didn’t get it the first time, but she connected with an officer, honed her application, reapplied, and won an award of £7,500 that funded her first trip to Korea this past January. Nikola is currently in Korea for her second session, and had to work 200 to 300 gigs and get some support from friends to get the money to do so. About a month before she left, the application process for the Arts Council’s largest fund opened up. She applied, and two weeks before she left, she found out she won, giving her the financial support to visit Korea two more times next year.
The biggest thing Nikola wants, however, is for other magicians to be aware funding opportunities like this are available. “We don’t have to pay for everything ourselves,” she said. “There’s arts funding available in all countries, and we all should be applying for them.”
Photos courtesy of Nikola Arkane