Clubs can be overwhelmingly positive, offering many benefits to members. There will be club events, perhaps a magic library, competitions, and general camaradery. Being in a club gives a sense of belonging within the magical community, and fraternity with other magicians. It is a place for healthy competition, learning, exchange of ideas, support for trying out new tricks and routines, networking, listening to the grapevine, and perhaps even gaining a mentor or two. Through club membership one may become part of the wider world of magic, becoming more aware of events, competitions, conventions, dealers and upcoming lecturer visits. It also has to be pointed out that clubs provide a lecture circuit for those same lecturers. Older magicians may see the club as a way to stay involved in magic after retirement, or even to pass on their lifetime experiences in magic. It is also (though not always) clubs that generally do the hard work behind the scenes for events such as lectures and conventions.
Plenty of good there then. Surely there isn't anything bad that can be said about them?
Well, sometimes I think that magic clubs can lose focus on the magic. They may introduce activities that may have little relevance to improving your magic (though they may have a phatic utility to the club itself). These activities may include such things as initiations, inductions, and games that fill time but do not keep attention focussed on the magic itself.
The safe environment for performing in, where everybody is also a magician and is trying to be supportive and/or tolerant may allow performers to remain at levels of skill far below what they should be at. Clubs are often too forgiving, allowing performers to get away with stuff that would not be acceptable at an actual gig. Encouragement is good, but so is a realistic assessment of where someone is at, and what they need to do to improve (One day I'll write about Toastmasters, an organisation that does exactly this for public speaking).
It is great to hang out with peers, but that should not affect your study of magic. Some members are more interested in spending their time learning new moves to impress their peers at clubs than in perfecting their old routines for laypeople. The regularity of the meetings with the same people push them to constantly be trying to learn something new to show at the meetings rather than developing their performing repertoire. There is also a tendency for magicians to react to tricks differently than lay people do - magic clubs are not the best places to assess how something will work for a lay audience.
When lectures happen at the club, or something great is shown, don't be surprised when many of the club members will suddenly start doing any easy effects that went down well, or repeating lines that got a laugh. Certainly a magic club seems to be the best place for copying, if not outright theft by the unimaginative.
And here's where we get to the ugly: Cliques, politics, clashing egoes, damaging gossip, jealousy, envy and undue influence can all occur within the context of a club, magic or otherwise.
Now remember, any given club may not have any of these faults, and many clubs are excellent. I wouldn't want to discourage anybody from joining a club - you can make friendships that can last a lifetime. I do think, however, that it is worthwhile to be aware of potential pitfalls, and guard yourself against them.
One last thing - if you decide to serve on a commitee, don't (a) become the workhorse for a lot of members that don't want to help out, (b) get so involved in politics that the magic begins to suffer, or (c) get so nailed down on club obligations that you have to miss gigs to attend a meeting.
