With most gatherings cancelled, Portsmouth-based Sages Entertainment has had to rethink business.
By Kelly Burch, Granite State News Collaborative
Wayne and Kali Moulton are a husband and wife team and owners of Portsmouth-based Sages Entertainment (courtesy photo).
For Wayne Moulton and his wife Kali, owners of Sages Entertainment in Portsmouth, there’s little that hasn’t changed since the pandemic hit. Sages Entertainment is built around two verticals: educational content for schools and libraries, and straight entertainment like balloon art and magic shows at birthdays, fairs and shopping centers.
With people now severely curtailing how they come together, the Moultons have had to completely rethink how they do business.
“We’re looking for operations that would allow us to stay social distance from the participants and allow joy to be had during these weird times,” Moulton said.
Like many businesses, Sages Entertainment has switched to digital. Often, the company works with schools to put on weeks-long educational content for students. When the pandemic shut down schools, the Moultons tried to fulfill those contracts with digital content. However, that meant relearning how they interact with their participants.
“It was kind of fun to think about that platform, and the restrictions and benefits of the platform,” Moulton said. “How do we get people to experience magic on their side of the screen when we’re over here?”
To combat Zoom fatigue, Moulton has tried to design virtual entertainment that is as interactive as possible for kids.
“If they’re watching a talking head on the screen it’s the same as everything else,” he said.
One of the recent hits has been a virtual magic class. Sages Entertainment ships a kit of high-quality magic props to children across the country -- another benefit of virtual -- who attend weekly Zoom classes. One of the high points during the pandemic was when Moulton got an email from a parent saying that their child had been doing a trick over and over, and the parent still hadn’t figured out how it worked. That kind of confidence and joy is what kids need right now, Moulton said.
During the summer of 2020, outdoor foam parties offered a socially-distant alternative to the traditional entertainment offered by the Moultons. Here, they are pictured with their three-year-old daughter at a foam party (courtesy photo).
Despite the success of transitioning to virtual entertainment, Sages Entertainment has also done limited in-person shows. This summer they found a niche with foam parties, where they filled a large outdoor space with foam for children to play in. That allowed everyone to have fun, while staying socially distant, but are no longer an option during the colder months.
Since the pandemic hit, Moulton has noticed that people are making bookings at the last minute, rather than weeks ahead of time.
“They’re not committing to programs or contracts as far out as they would in normal times,” he said. “Most of the conversations happen a week or two before the event, versus a month before.”
That can make it difficult to plan financially, especially since Sages Entertainment is the main income source for the Moultons and their three-year-old daughter.
“Normally we’d like to get bookings a couple months ahead of time so we can manage cash flow and be a sustainable business,” Moulton said.
Although that’s difficult, Moulton is learning to manage the new normal. Now that he understands that most people sign up at the last minute, he urges organizations he works with to leave bookings open until a day or two before the event. Before he started explaining the last-minute trend, some gigs were cancelled when organizations became concerned about a lack of registrations.
Roughly a year ago Moulton lost his job when the nonprofit he worked for folded. He took that opportunity to make Sages Entertainment his fulltime job, having no idea that 2020 would rock his business.
“I went from full-time work to business owner overnight,” he said. “Then we were all set and lined up for a fantastic summer and fall, when suddenly a pandemic hit and we had to scramble to reinvent what we are doing.”
Despite losses in the tens of thousands of dollars, Moulton continues to pivot again and again to get Sages Entertainment through COVID.
“We enjoy bringing joy and laughter to families in our communities,” he said. “We’re trying to see where the next thing is. We’re constantly moving towards a moving target. We’re trying to aim for something when we don’t quite know where it’s going to land.”
This story is part of the 50 Businesses, 50 Solutions series, shared by partners in The Granite State News Collaborative, that aims to highlight how business leaders across the state, from mom and pop shops, to large corporations have adapted to meet the challenges and disruptions caused by the novel coronavirus in the hopes others may be able to replicate these ideas and innovations. Tell us your story here. For more information visit collaborativenh.org.