It's easy to book a Magical School Enrichment Program by The Steelgraves!  Just call or e-mail with your preferred date(s), and the program you'd like to see.  Although we perform year-round, certain shows may not be available at all times during the school year. We'll do our best to accommodate your choice of date, but all scheduling is first-come first-served.

Our Magical School Shows are currently ONLY available within 100 miles of East Waterboro, Maine. (This includes schools in parts of Maine, New Hampshire, and Massachusetts only.) If not sure of your distance, go to MapQuest and enter your town and East Waterboro, Maine for a rough idea.

THE PERFORMANCE AGREEMENT
Once a performance is confirmed, we send you a Performance Agreement with all payment terms and technical requirements for the show.  Just sign both copies of the Agreement, keep one for your records, and return the other one to us.  Although for most other venues and clients we do charge a non-refundable deposit, we understand how much paperwork can be involved with Purchase Orders, etc., so we do not charge a deposit for school shows.  Once we receive the signed Agreement, the performance is officially "on the books", and we will turn down any other engagements for that time frame. 

FEES
Fees vary depending upon the type of show; please call or e-mail for specific information.  We have some programs with fees as low as $200 (restrictions apply).  For the average elementary school performance, fees range from $295 to $595, depending upon the type of show.  Mileage is additional, and is charged at a rate of 50 cents per round-trip mile from our East Waterboro, Maine home base. For block bookings spanning several days, there is also an additional charge for motel accommodations. Keep in mind, when price-comparing magicians who perform in schools, these shows are generally MUCH greater in size and scope than the usual one-man magic show you'll find in the Maine/New Hampshire area. 

BLOCK BOOKING
School performances are available only within 100 miles of East Waterboro.  However, all schools more than 75 miles from East Waterboro, Maine are strongly encouraged to block book to save money. We may be able to travel further than 100 miles, IF YOU ALREADY HAVE AT LEAST TWO MORE SCHOOLS WILLING TO BLOCK BOOK WITH YOUR SCHOOL (for a minimum of three schools booking). Block booking maximizes the efficiency of our tours and eliminates redundant driving (it also saves gas and is better on the environment).  For you, block booking results in a reduced fee! In addition, the total mileage for all block booked performances is divided among the schools who book together--so, the more schools on board, the lower the price for everyone!

Performance Agreements are not sent out until all schools who wish to join the block booking have verbally confirmed.  The fees and mileage for each individual school are then figured and listed on the Agreements. (We use MapQuest to figure mileage from our home base, and between multiple school locations.) Once the Performance Agreements go out, if another school wishes to join the block booking, they will be booked at the lowest rate currently in effect for the other schools; there will be no further discount. 

DISCOUNTS
Block booking discounts are based on the number of schools booking:
                                               2 schools----------$25 discount per school; mileage is divided by two
                                               3 schools----------$35 discount per school; mileage is divided by three
                                               4+ schools--------$50 discount per school; mileage is divided by the number of schools

Due to the set-up and take-down times involved, and to allow sufficient travel time between schools, we can perform at a maximum of two schools during a school day.  (Evening performances are another option--i.e. family social events, PTO fundraisers, etc.)

Multi-show discounts are given for performances of the same show, at the same location, on the same day, with no removal or take-down of our equipment between shows. We can perform up to three shows in a school day at one location.
The first show is at the regular fee; each additional show is discounted by $100!

If any schools in a block booking are having multiple shows, first the multi-show discount is applied, then the block booking discount is taken off the total for that school (the block booking discount is NOT a per-show-per-school discount; it is a per-school discount).  For example, let's say the show fee is $350.  Not counting the mileage, if three schools are block booking, and one of them is having two shows, the fee for that school is $565. ($350 for 1st show, plus $250 for 2nd show = $600, minus $35 block booking discount = $565). The fee for the other two schools who are only having one show is $315 each ($350 minus $35). 

MULTIPLE SHOWS IN A DAY
It's always best for a live performance if audience size is limited.  We've found that school groups of 250 or less respond better to the performance, feel "closer" to the performers, and have fewer problems with distractions. There is an intimacy to a live show, and especially when dealing with groups of young children, limiting the size of the group makes for a more satisfying experience overall.  With the discount for multiple shows, having two or three in a day to accommodate large schools is feasible.

If having multiple shows, feel free to mix the grades any way you wish--just let us know your breakdown beforehand. If performing for only grades K-2, or 3-5, we are able to tailor the performance slightly to accommodate different learning and maturity levels, which also enhances the performance experience.  Although we don't perform a completely different show for each age group, the approach we take in terms of performance style, dialogue with the audience, sophistication of vocabulary, and possibly one or two of the actual magic effects themselves, are slightly different for each show.   

CANCELLATION POLICY
Once we have been contracted to perform for a client, we keep that commitment.  We ask that our clients do the same for us.  Although we have never done so, only in rare circumstances might we have to cancel, and that would only be due to severe injury or illness that completely prohibited us from being physically able to perform.  Obviously if we cancel we're not going to penalize you for it!  We will always arrange to reschedule.
 
The Performance Agreement states our full payment and cancellation policy; upon reading it over if you have questions or concerns, please let us know.  Once the Agreement is signed and returned to us, and the performance is officially booked, the show is expected to go on and we expect payment.  Rather than requiring a deposit up-front, we charge a cancellation fee of 50% of the show fee if a performance is cancelled between 15 and 30 days of the show date, and 100% of the show fee if a show is cancelled within 14 days of the show date (unless it's rescheduled). 

IF SCHOOL IS CANCELLED DUE TO A STORM:
This is Maine, the Way Life Should Be...unless it's wintertime!  We understand that inclement weather (or other unforeseen circumstances) can force schools to close, resulting in a cancelled performance.  We have that covered! In the event of a school cancellation, the performance must simply be rescheduled to take place within 60 days, in order to avoid the cancellation penalty (unless it's June; then "the show must go on" by September 30 of the next school year).

For winter shows in New England (January through mid-April), we prearrange a snow date as well as a show date, when booking a performance.  Many assembly presenters don't do this, without charging an extra fee.

Now, as we are based in Maine, and winters are often plagued with school cancellations, morning shows at schools more than an hour and a half's drive from us (roughly 65 or more miles) pose a unique problem. For these shows, in order to be ready to perform for you at 9:00 or 9:30, we must arrive at your school by 7:15 or 7:45 a.m.  Rather than arise at 4:00 or 4:30 a.m. to get ourselves ready and "on the road", then drive for hours, and deprive our doves and bunnies (not to mention ourselves!) of the rest needed in order to give the best performance for your school, we must travel to your area the night before and stay in a hotel/motel relatively close to the school.

Again, in New England...in the winter...traveling a long distance the night before a school show runs the risk that school, and therefore the show, will be cancelled, resulting in much wasted time and money.  HOWEVER, as ample advance notice is usually given the day before a storm by the cheerful folks in our various news media's dramatic "Storm Teams", we can have a pretty good idea whether or not school may be cancelled the following day.

THEREFORE, if we're booked to perform at your (distant) school in the morning, and it looks there will be a 40-50% chance of school being cancelled on the day of that performance, PLEASE LET US KNOW THE AFTERNOON BEFORE THE SHOW that it looks "iffy", and we'll automatically reschedule you to the prearranged snowdate. This will save us and our critters a very long drive (and save you the night's motel cost) for a cancelled show...when we'd just have to spend the time and money again for the rescheduled performance.  (Thanks!!)

Although we may not charge a deposit,  we do require full payment of the contracted fee if a cancelled performance is never rescheduled (minus the mileage charges, of course). We realize this is ultimately on the "honor system", but we trust that since the Performance Agreement had been read, agreed to and signed by both parties, that both parties would honor the terms of that agreement.  We've only had a few clients renege on payment in thousands of performances, but it's never nice when that happens. However, short of making a "small claims" suit out of it, there's not a lot we can do.  Since we had reserved that date
only for your school, it is probable that we had turned down other paying engagements for that time frame; so not only would we be forfeiting the income from the cancelled show, but also the potential income from the shows we turned down. This is completely how we make our living, so in lieu of insisting upon a 50% deposit across the board, having this cancellation policy helps avoid those situations where a school cancels because they "found a cheaper presenter" or simply "changed their mind".

 If you booked a seasonal performance, and it's not possible to coordinate schedules so the show can go on later that same month (we cannot reserve snow dates for highly-in-demand October or December shows, for instance), you may select an alternate performance for a different time of year.

Hopefully this causes no inconvenience!   Again, we've rarely had a cancellation that didn't reschedule, but we try not to take chances.  Thank you for your understanding.