From performing in front of global audiences to launching his own online academy, magician Drummond Money-Coutts has spent decades perfecting the craft that captured his imagination as a child. Now, having spent the past two years in the UAE, he is working to inspire a new generation of magicians, from schoolchildren to lifelong enthusiasts, through his digital platform, ImaginationHQ.
He is among the KT+150 listmakers — a list of unapologetically cool young changemakers who are shaking up life in the UAE across 15 industries. The magician and mentalist said, “When I was eight, I discovered magic, and it’s been my whole life ever since,” he says. “There was simply nothing else that came close.”
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His journey to Dubai was anything but ordinary. Born into a long line of British financiers, he worked briefly in a bank, but he couldn’t shake his childhood love for magic.
After years of performing across London, Los Angeles, and other global hubs, including a Netflix show during the pandemic, he recognized that high-level magic was still relatively unexplored in the UAE. He spent a year in Abu Dhabi running his own theatre at the Emirates Palace before turning his focus to Dubai, envisioning it as a global center for entertainment. “I want Dubai to take the crown from Las Vegas,” he says. “This is where the impossible becomes possible, and I want to help grow that culture.”
His latest initiative, ImaginationHQ, is an online magic academy that offers courses and resources for learning card magic and other illusions for both kids and adults. For Money-Coutts, magic has no age. “Everyone who wants to learn can join… from 7-year-olds to even 100-year-olds.”
The platform aims not only to teach tricks but to build confidence, presentation skills, and creative thinking. “Magic has the ability to bring joy, teach life skills, and inspire,” he said. “Our hope is that children learning magic will develop skills they can carry into every part of their lives.”
Money-Coutts brought that energy to the KT+150 networking event at Chic Nonna on October 1. Performing in the middle of the venue with his vintage suitcase and deck of cards, he wowed the listmakers with his sleight-of-hand tricks, while also mingling with Khaleej Times reporters and Editor-in-Chief Ted Kemp. The crowd loved not only the performance, but also the personal interactions he shared with the young innovators who made up the KT+150 list.
For Money-Coutts, the evening was more than just another performance. It was a chance to connect with some of the UAE’s brightest young minds, many of whom are shaping industries from AI to fintech to fashion. “Being here and talking to these listmakers is incredibly inspiring,” he stated. “This is the kind of energy that makes Dubai the perfect place to nurture new ideas — whether in magic or in business.”
With ImaginationHQ and a vision to eventually launch a physical magic academy in Dubai, Money-Coutts is turning his lifelong passion into a movement, helping children and adults alike discover that wonder can be taught, learned, and shared.
