A Guide on Creating and Using Shopping Bots For Your Business
In lieu of going alone, Kik also lists recommended agencies to take your projects from ideation to implementation. As a sales channel, Shopify Messenger integrates with merchants’ existing backend to pull in product descriptions, images, and sizes. Imagine replicating the tactile in-store experience across platforms like WhatsApp and Instagram. Dive deeper, and you’ll find Ada’s knack for tailoring responses based on a user’s shopping history, opening doors for effective cross-selling and up-selling.
But the pandemic means higher demand for lots of items, and many more people shopping online. Banking chatbots are increasingly gaining prominence as they offer an array of benefits to both banks and customers alike. Mr. Singh also has a passion for subjects that excite new-age customers, be it social media engagement, artificial intelligence, machine learning. He takes great pride in his learning-filled journey of adding value to the industry through consistent research, analysis, and sharing of customer-driven ideas.
Whether you have to guide a team, communicate with customers, or run a campaign — your to-do list can be exhausting. When you create an account with us, you must provide us with information that is accurate, complete, and current at all times. Failure to do so constitutes a breach of the Terms, which may result in immediate termination of your account on our Service. Many of the biggest retailers scan each others’ websites, making sure they’re not beaten on the best deal in the sales.
Additionally, shopping bots can remember user preferences and past interactions. Retail bots play a significant role in e-commerce self-service systems, eliminating these redundancies and ensuring a smooth shopping experience. By integrating bots with store inventory systems, customers can be informed about product availability in real-time. Imagine a scenario where a bot not only confirms the availability of a product but also guides the customer to its exact aisle location in a brick-and-mortar store. By analyzing a user’s browsing history, past purchases, and even search queries, these bots can create a detailed profile of the user’s preferences.
There are many options available, such as Dialogflow, Microsoft Bot Framework, IBM Watson, and others. Consider factors like ease of use, integration capabilities with your e-commerce platform, and the level of customization available. If your competitors aren’t using bots, it will give you a unique USP and customer experience advantage and allow you to get the head start on using bots. Outside of a general on-site bot assistant, businesses aren’t using them to their full potential.
Trainers (or sneakers) have been a hotbed for limited, high-demand releases for years, with people queuing outside shops to buy them – or trying to nab them online. That has led to the development of advanced bots – ones that are now being turned to other purposes. If you are building the bot to drive sales, you just install the bot on your site using an ecommerce platform, like Shopify or WordPress. You will find plenty of chatbot templates from the service providers to get good ideas about your chatbot design. These templates can be personalized based on the use cases and common scenarios you want to cater to.
The platform, which recently raised $2 million in seed funding, aims to foster a community of sneaker enthusiasts who are not interested in reselling. Whichever type you use, proxies are an important part of setting up a bot. In some cases, like when a website has very strong anti-botting software, it is better not to even use a bot at all. Charlie is HR software that streamlines your HR processes by organizing employee data into one convenient location. Whether you need to track employee time off, quickly onboard new employees, or grow and develop your team, Charlie has all the necessary resources.
The variety of options allows consumers to select shopping bots aligned to their needs and preferences. As bots evolve, platform-agnostic capabilities will likely improve. Apps like NexC go beyond the chatbot experience and allow customers to discover new brands and find new ways to use products from ratings, reviews, and articles. Brands can also use Shopify Messenger to nudge stagnant consumers through the customer journey. Using the bot, brands can send shoppers abandoned shopping cart reminders via Facebook.
Is Instagram cleaning fake followers?
We will discuss the features of each bot, as well as the pros and cons of using them. An increased cart abandonment rate could signal denial of inventory bot attacks. They’ll only execute the purchase once a shopper buys for a marked-up price on a secondary marketplace.
Facebook Marketplace Is Being Ruined by Zelle Scammers – WIRED
Facebook Marketplace Is Being Ruined by Zelle Scammers.
Posted: Fri, 22 Dec 2023 08:00:00 GMT [source]
A shopping bot is a simple form of artificial intelligence (AI) that simulates a conversion with a person over text messages. These bots are like your best customer service and sales employee all in one. Manifest AI is a GPT-powered AI shopping bot that helps Shopify store owners increase sales and reduce customer support tickets.
Product Review: ShoppingBotAI – The Ultimate Shopping Assistant
One more thing, you can integrate ShoppingBotAI with your website in minutes and improve customer experience using Automation. What’s more, its multilingual support ensures that language is never a barrier. In today’s fast-paced world, consumers value efficiency more than ever. The longer it takes to find a product, navigate a website, or complete a purchase, the higher the chances of losing a potential sale. Online shopping often involves unnecessary steps that can deter potential customers.
In 2016 eBay created ShopBot which they dubbed as a smart shopping assistant to help users find the products they need. I love and hate my next example of shopping bots from Pura Vida Bracelets. They too use a shopping bot on their website that takes the user through every step of the customer journey. They give valuable insight into how shoppers already use conversational commerce to impact their own customer experience.
On the front-end they give away minimal value to the customer hoping on the back-end that this shopping bot will get them to order more frequently. The next message was the consideration part of the customer journey. This is where shoppers will typically ask questions, read online reviews, view what the experience will look like, and ask further questions. After asking a few questions regarding the user’s style preferences, sizes, and shopping tendencies, recommendations come in multiple-choice fashion. The rest of the bots here are customer-oriented, built to help shoppers find products. This lets eCommerce brands give their bot personality and adds authenticity to conversational commerce.
Then, pick one of the best shopping bot platforms listed in this article or go on an internet hunt for your perfect match. This helps visitors quickly find what they’re looking for and ensures they have a pleasant experience when interacting with the business. In fact, a study shows that over 82% of shoppers want an immediate response when contacting a brand with a marketing or sales question. By managing your traffic, you’ll get full visibility with server-side analytics that helps you detect and act on suspicious traffic.
Best shopping bot software
In fact, Shopify says that one of their clients, Pure Cycles, increased online revenue by 14% using abandoned cart messages in Messenger. In this article I’ll provide you with the nuts and bolts required to run profitable shopping bots at various stages of your funnel backed by real-life examples. These shopping bots make it easy to handle everything from communication to product discovery. As more consumers discover and purchase on social, conversational commerce has become an essential marketing tactic for eCommerce brands to reach audiences. In fact, a recent survey showed that 75% of customers prefer to receive SMS messages from brands, highlighting the need for conversations rather than promotional messages.
- When you create an account with us, you must provide us with information that is accurate, complete, and current at all times.
- In the initial interaction with the Chatbot user, the bot would first have to introduce itself, and so a Chatbot builder offers the flexibility to name the Chatbot.
- Chatbots are available 24/7, making it convenient for customers to get the information they need at any time.
- Influencer product releases, such as Kylie Jenner’s Kylie Cosmetics are also regular targets of bots and resellers.
- Advanced chatbots, however, store and use data from repeat users and remember their names as they communicate online.
- It can go a long way in bolstering consumer confidence that you’re truly trying to keep releases fair.
Shopify Messenger also functions as an efficient sales channel, integrating with the merchant’s current backend. The messenger extracts the required data in product details such as descriptions, images, specifications, etc. While some buying bots alert the user about an item, you can program others to purchase a product as soon as it drops. Execution of this transaction is within a few milliseconds, ensuring that the user obtains the desired product. Shopping bots allow retailers to monitor competitor pricing in real-time and make strategic adjustments.
While SMS has emerged as the fastest growing channel to communicate with customers, another effective way to engage in conversations is through chatbots. Bots allow brands to connect with customers at any time, on any device, and at any point in the customer journey. They can walk through aisles, pick up products, and even interact with virtual sales assistants. This level of immersion blurs the lines between online and offline shopping, offering a sensory experience that traditional e-commerce platforms can’t match. On the other hand, Virtual Reality (VR) promises to take online shopping to a whole new dimension.
Chatbot Options
For instance, customers can shop on sites such as Offspring, Footpatrol, Travis Scott Shop, and more. Their latest release, Cybersole 5.0, promises intuitive features like advanced analytics, hands-free automation, and billing randomization to bypass filtering. Engati is a Shopify chatbot built to help store owners engage and retain their customers. It does come with intuitive features, including the ability to automate customer conversations.
Both credential stuffing and credential cracking bots attempt multiple logins with (often illegally obtained) usernames and passwords. What all shopping bots have in common is that they provide the person using the bot with an unfair advantage. If shoppers were athletes, using a shopping bot would be the equivalent of doping.
You can foun additiona information about ai customer service and artificial intelligence and NLP. She has 25.2 million followers, but only follows 773 accounts in return. It is important to remember that it is not just people wanting to inflate their follower lists who have fake followers. As influencer marketing becomes more popular, almost mainstream, influencer selection becomes even more pivotal to a campaign’s success. However, the main prerequisite for a campaign to work is that it uses genuine influencers to spread the brand’s message. There are unscrupulous people online who like the reputation and perks of being considered an influencer, without doing the work needed to reach that status. Moreover, some companies have had their campaigns come unstuck because of these pseudo-influencers.
Some advanced bots even offer price breakdowns, loyalty points redemption, and instant coupon application, ensuring users get the best value for their money. Shopping bots come to the rescue by providing smart recommendations and product comparisons, ensuring users find what they’re looking for in record time. Be it a midnight quest for the perfect pair of shoes or an early morning hunt for a rare book, shopping bots are there to guide, suggest, and assist. Ever faced issues like a slow-loading website or a complicated checkout process? This proactive approach to product recommendation makes online shopping feel more like a curated experience rather than a hunt in the digital wilderness.
Since some services like customer management or email marketing systems charge based on account volumes, this could also create additional costs. Online shopping bots let bot operators hog massive amounts of product with no inconvenience—they just sit at their computer screen and let the grinch bots do their dirty work. You can find grinch bots wherever there’s a combination of scarcity and hype. While scarcity marketing is a powerful tool for generating hype, it also creates the perfect mismatch between supply and demand for bots to exploit for profit.
In your business, you need information about your customers’ pain points, preferences, requirements, and most importantly their feedback. After deploying the bot, the key responsibility is to monitor the analytics regularly. It’s equally important Chat GPT to collect the opinions of customers as then you can better understand how effective your bot is. Once the bot is trained, it will become more conversational and gain the ability to handle complex queries and conversations easily.
Bot operators secure the sought-after products by using their bots to gain an unfair advantage over other online shoppers. A second option would be to use an online shopping bot to do that monitoring for them. The software program could be written to search for the bots that buy things online text “In Stock” on a certain field of a web page. Online shopping bots work by using software to execute automated tasks based on instructions bot makers provide. The more advanced option will be coded to provide an extensive list of language options for users.
Furthermore, tools like Honey exemplify the added value that shopping bots bring. Beyond product recommendations, they also ensure users get the best value for their money by automatically applying discounts and finding the best deals. In essence, shopping bots are not just tools; they are the future of e-commerce. They bridge the gap between technology and human touch, ensuring that even in the vast digital marketplace, shopping remains a personalized and delightful experience. The platform has been gaining traction and now supports over 12,000+ brands. Their solution performs many roles, including fostering frictionless opt-ins and sending alerts at the right moment for cart abandonments, back-in-stock, and price reductions.
It may even share some content on that day to make it look genuine. Once the bot has followed sufficient people, it stops and relies on people not checking their accounts and unfollowing the fake account. Instagram (or indeed the other social networks) cannot eliminate all fake accounts.
Useful customer data
It has a wide range of collections and also takes great pride in offering exceptional customer service. The company users FAQ chatbots so that shoppers can get real-time information on their common queries. The way it uses the chatbot to help customers is a good example of how to leverage the power of technology and drive business. Certainly empowers businesses to leverage the power of conversational AI solutions to convert more of their traffic into customers. Rather than providing a ready-built bot, customers can build their conversational assistants with easy-to-use templates.
Human users, on the other hand, are constantly prompted by their computers and phones to update to the latest version. It’s highly unlikely a real shopper is using a 3-year-old browser version, for instance. Sometimes even basic information like browser version can be enough to identify suspicious traffic. If you have four layers of bot protection that remove 50% of bots at each stage, 10,000 bots become 5,000, then 2,500, then 1,250, then 625. In this scenario, the multi-layered approach removes 93.75% of bots, even with solutions that only manage to block 50% of bots each. To get a sense of scale, consider data from Akamai that found one botnet sent more than 473 million requests to visit a website during a single sneaker release.
It only requires customers to enter their travel date, accommodation choice, and destination. Afterward, the shopping bot will search the web to find the best deal for your needs. Making a chatbot for online shopping can streamline the purchasing process. Once the software is purchased, members decide if they want to keep or “flip” the bots to make a profit on the resale market. Here’s how one bot nabbing and reselling group, Restock Flippers, keeps its 600 paying members on top of the bot market.
Such automation across multiple channels, from SMS and web chat to Messenger, WhatsApp, and Email. Readow is an AI-driven recommendation engine that gives users choices on what to read based on their selection of a few titles. The bot analyzes reader preferences to provide objective book recommendations from a selection of a million titles. Madison Reed is a US-based hair care and hair color company that launched its shopping bot in 2016. The bot takes a few inputs from the user regarding the hairstyle they desire and asks them to upload a photo of themselves. Concerning e-commerce, WeChat enables accessible merchant-to-customer communication while shoppers browse the merchant’s products.
Insyncai is a shopping boat specially made for eCommerce website owners. It can improve various aspects of the customer experience to boost sales and improve satisfaction. For instance, it offers personalized product suggestions and pinpoints the location of items in a store. The app also allows businesses to offer 24/7 automated customer support. They ensure an effortless experience across many channels and throughout the whole process.
Anthropic – Claude Smart Assistant
This AI-powered shopping bot interacts in natural conversation. Users can say what they want to purchase and Claude finds the items, compares prices across retailers, and even completes checkout with payment. Below, we’ve rounded up the top five shopping bots that we think are helping brands best automate e-commerce tasks, and provide a great customer experience. Of course, you’ll still need real humans on your team to field more difficult customer requests or to provide more personalized interaction.
Mobile Price in Nepal
This holistic approach ensures that users not only get the best price but also the best overall shopping experience. It helps store owners increase sales by forging one-on-one relationships. The Cartloop Live SMS Concierge service can guide customers through the purchase journey with personalized recommendations and 24/7 support assistance. Using a shopping bot can further enhance personalized experiences in an E-commerce store. The bot can provide custom suggestions based on the user’s behaviour, past purchases, or profile.
This is an advanced AI chatbot that serves as a shopping assistant. It works through multiple-choice identification of what the user prefers. After the bot has been trained for use, it is further trained by customers’ preferences during shopping and chatting.
- Dashbot.io gathers information about your bot to help you create better, more discoverable bots.
- Once the software is purchased, members decide if they want to keep or “flip” the bots to make a profit on the resale market.
- You can also give a name for your chatbot, add emojis, and GIFs that match your company.
- Of course, you’ll still need real humans on your team to field more difficult customer requests or to provide more personalized interaction.
- If you don’t accept PayPal as a payment option, they will buy the product elsewhere.
They are designed to identify and eliminate these pain points, ensuring that the online shopping journey is as smooth as silk. Moreover, the best shopping bots are now integrated with AI and machine learning capabilities. This means they can learn from user behaviors, preferences, and past purchases, ensuring that every product recommendation is tailored to the individual’s tastes and needs. In 2023, as the e-commerce landscape becomes more saturated with countless products and brands, the role of the best shopping bots has never been more crucial. Coupy is an online purchase bot available on Facebook Messenger that can help users save money on online shopping.
Checkout bot’s main feature is the convenience and ease of shopping. An excellent Chatbot builder offers businesses the opportunity to increase sales when they create online ordering bots that speed up the checkout process. Online shopping bots have become an indispensable tool for eCommerce businesses looking to enhance their customer experience and drive sales. A shopping bots, also known as a chatbot, is a computer program powered by artificial intelligence that can interact with customers in real-time through a chat interface.
When it comes to online shopping, you might be competing with super-speedy, greedy bots. – Slate
When it comes to online shopping, you might be competing with super-speedy, greedy bots..
Posted: Mon, 01 Nov 2021 07:00:00 GMT [source]
It has a multi-channel feature allows it to be integrated with several databases. The chatbot is integrated with the existing backend of product details. Hence, users can browse the catalog, get recommendations, pay, order, confirm delivery, and make customer service requests with the tool. Augmented Reality (AR) chatbots are set to redefine the online shopping experience. Imagine being able to virtually “try on” a pair of shoes or visualize how a piece of furniture would look in your living room before making a purchase. Diving into the realm of shopping bots, Chatfuel emerges as a formidable contender.
This level of precision ensures that users are always matched with products that are not only relevant but also of high quality. Shopping bots are peculiar in that they can be accessed on multiple channels. They must be available where the user selects to have the interaction. Customers can interact with the same bot on Facebook Messenger, Instagram, Slack, Skype, or WhatsApp. That’s where you’re in full control over the triggers, conditions, and actions of the chatbot.
Software like this provides customized recommendations based on a customer’s preferences. Consequently, shoppers visiting your eCommerce site will receive product recommendations based on their search criteria. In many cases, bots are built by former sneakerheads and self-taught developers who make a killing from their products.
One of the biggest advantages of shopping bots is that they provide a self-service option for customers. Chatbots are available 24/7, making it convenient for customers to get the information they need at any time. Additionally, shopping bots can streamline the https://chat.openai.com/ checkout process by storing user preferences and payment details securely. This means fewer steps to complete a purchase, reducing the chances of cart abandonment. They can also scout for the best shipping options, ensuring timely and cost-effective delivery.
The purpose of training the bot is to get it familiar with your FAQs, previous user search queries, and search preferences. This article will teach you how to make a bot to buy things online. One of its important features is its ability to understand screenshots and provide context-driven assistance. The content’s security is also prioritized, as it is stored on GCP/AWS servers. The Shopify Messenger bot has been developed to make merchants’ lives easier by helping the shoppers who cruise the merchant sites for their desired products. You can program Shopping bots to bargain-hunt for high-demand products.
Some are ready-made solutions, and others allow you to build custom conversational AI bots. Take a look at some of the main advantages of automated checkout bots. If you’re selling limited-inventory products, dedicate resources to review the order confirmations before shipping the products. A virtual waiting room is uniquely positioned to filter out bots by allowing you to run visitor identification checks before visitors can proceed with their purchase. Once scripts are made, they aren’t always updated with the latest browser version.
About Me
What’s Susan up to?
Penn State Center for Holocaust and Jewish Studies will host me as I present a solo program of song and history focusing on the roots of Eastern European Jewish music and related songs.
I have the honor of presenting this year at the annual American Folklore Society's conference. A lecture on papercut arts around the world and a demonstration of my own work will take place during the conference on October 22, 2021!
ELEVEN languages and counting! Over the years, I've crafted ketubot that honor many cultures. In addition to the expected Aramaic, modern Hebrew, English, and even Yiddish, I have included Korean, Kannada, Latin, Arabic, and even the Telugu seen in the cropped image above! What a joy this has been!
What a wonderful experience I shared with the community of Las Cruces, NM and the Guild of American Papercutters when I presented an hour-long lecture on the worldwide history of papercut arts on March 16, 2021. This was in conjunction with the museum's show of Islamic papercut art. We looked at tools, traditions, and especially shared visual vocabularies from India to Mexico, from Persia to China and beyond!
February 18, 2018 - Susan will be hosted by the Sholem Aleichem Center in the Bronx for a concert. Come for a shmuez (a chat) and stay for the music!https://www.pineclubgolf.com/best-electrical-push-carts/
As part of the Sacred: Image, Text, Ritual exhibit at Lebanon Valley College, Susan will be presenting a lecture recital titled "Words as Homeland: Where Jewish Text, Art, and Song Converge to Express a Culture." Thursday, February 8, 2018, 5 pm at the Zimmerman Recital Hall.
A wonderful arts residency in Teaneck, NJ at Congregation Beth Sholom concluded with a full concert, accompanied by Adrian Banner on Piano. Enthusiasm and learning flowed back and forth the entire time. Fabulous community!
What a great night at the Jalopy in Brooklyn on June 16, 2016 as my new trio with Lauren Brody and Jake Shulman-Ment stepped out to strut our stuff! Many languages, many musical cultures, and great joy in blending our voices and instruments.
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In the beautiful summer landscape of Rindge, New Hampshire, I was privileged to teach traditional Jewish papercut arts at the annual National Havurah Committee's Summer Institute. We turned a large, sunny room into an art studio, and the class burst into enthusiastic art creation. I love the celebratory greeting of everyone's creations as skills and appreciation deepen over four days of classes. I'll come to you! Just ask!
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Back to the Catskills, this time teaching for HAZAK, a group under the umbrella of United Synagogue that offers among its programs an annual summer week of learning and camaraderie. I used my lecture/recital format to widen the world of Yiddish song for about 150 life-long learners as we studied, laughed, sang a bit, and grew to know one another in Kerhonkson, NY.
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When Nancy Spielberg screened her film Above and Beyond in Harrisburg's Chisuk Emuna Congregation, I was tapped to create a papercut gift for her. I chose the color scheme of her promotional material and the Hebrew words which translate into "Be strong... and strengthen one another." The filmmaker and I are shown here. (photo by Josh Damrauer)
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Each year the myriad of faith communities in the Harrisburg region come together to celebrate in song. Here's an image of my participation, sharing the beauty of Yiddish song at the Pine Street Presbyterian Church.
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One of three children's programs to wind up a hectic and marvelous Scholar in Residence program at Congregation Beth El in Fairfield, CT. Lectures, singing programs, explorations of Yiddishkayt - and a debut concert of the new Leviton/Brody duo in concert! I'll happily come to your community, too!
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Yiddish Culture on St. Croix! I received the warmest welcome all across the island where I had the opportunities to teach a vocal arts class in a school, offer an adult papercutting workshop, lecture in the synagogue, and get the whole audience at the Reformed Church singing along in multiple languages! Cultural seeds planted and the smiles, voices, and hugs still linger in memory!
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The Judson Church off Washington Square was packed with well over 300 people on December 30, 2014, to honor the memory and brilliance of Adrienne Cooper, and to award Michael Wex with this year's Dreaming in Yiddish prize. Below is an image of the finale of the musical performance of the Kanonen song from Brecht and Weill's Threepenny Opera, translated from the German into Yiddish by Wex himself. An all-star band backed us as we belted out the Army Song and others, accompanied by the brilliant puppetry and staging of Great Small Works and Power Point translations which made the text a little less inscrutable! What a night! Singers below include Sarah Gordon, Eleanor Reissa, Tine Kindermann, Dan Kahn, myself, and others.
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A whirlwind arts week in Caldwell, NJ at Congregation Agudath Israel allowed me to open Jewish folk arts to energetic groups from preschoolers through elders. The tots sang and acted out Yiddish songs with costumes and props, the school students (4 larger groups) explored paper arts and traditional papercutting, and adults were treated to a series of lecture recitals, everything taking place in a large space where I hung over 35 works of framed art. What a fabulous arts residency for all of us together!
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Nearly 100 people attended a lecture/recital stitching together I. B. Singer's writing and the artists who illustrated his books as Susan sang her way through the bookshelves, Sunday, November 16, at Chisuk Emuna Congregation in Harrisburg, PA. This was the second event in the year's programming under a grant from the Koster Foundation.
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I was guest lecturer at Dickinson College today, October 6, singing my way through a program on Jews and Food. Unlike the light weight singalongs I often do on this topic, the class took food songs into the framework of Hasia Diner's examination of the place of food in Jewish life in the Pale of Settlement through acculturation in America. 15 songs unpacked! A great eye-opening experience for all!
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Heeding God's Call is a national organization working at a grassroots level to end gun violence and straw buying. On September 18, within days of two gun murders in Harrisburg, I participated in an interfaith program at the MLK Baptist Church in the heart of our city. We 'sang' Reisen's Dos Naye Lid together as the assembled crowd held colored cards with words in Yiddish and English.
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A happy bride at the huppah with her papercut ketubah! 'Tis the season, and I've been busy with commissions of all sorts!
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A full week of learning and teaching at the Havurah Summer Institute was a welcome experience again this year. Located at Franklin Pierce College in New Hampshire, about 300 Havurahniks from infancy to elder sage-age filled days and nights with enthusiastic work, food, music, and exploration. I taught classes in Yiddish song and helped create a soundscape for Tisha B'Av this summer. Loved it!!!
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A lovely way to begin the summer's KlezKamp's Wisconsin adventure was a solo concert at Chai Point in Milwaukee. Jill Gellerman and were welcomed to the beautiful facility and then I sang for and with a great crowd of elders, eager to be part of the action!
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Quite a surprise when I met the truck from Welch Signage in Maine, carrying the massive synagogue feature wall I had designed, to see a piece of my own artwork prominently displayed on both sides of the vehicle!
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I performed for over 100 people at beautiful Maris Grove in Pennsylvania's Delaware County on May 13. As part of the PA Humanities Council's program of Commonwealth Speakers, I was able to bring the sound of Yiddish to an audience largely unfamiliar with the language and culture. As always, common threads were immediately found!
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Verrry busy these days creating a synagogue feature wall, but I took time last week to be interviewed for Ted Merwin's article "The Aesthetics of Judaism" in The New York Jewish Week. Here's a quote: "For Susan Leviton, a ketubah-maker, paper-cut artist and Yiddish folk song performer ..., it was during the 1960s and ’70s, when many Jews flocked back to their roots, that Jews... 'took Judaism back into their own hands' and began braiding challahs and tie-dying prayer shawls. Hiddur mitzvah 'alters us as we fulfill a mitzvah or perform a ritual,' she told me. A Midrash (Song of Songs Rabbah 1.15) suggests that observance of the commandments makes Jews beautiful, even as Jews glorify God through hiddur mitzvot."
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An outpouring of love and creativity filled the room as we honored the memory of Adrienne Cooper and saw Jenny Romaine accept the first Dreaming in Yiddish award for her visionary work. Here's Susan on stage with Alicia Svigals, Jake Shulman-Ment, Benjy Fox Rosen, Aaron Alexander, Michael Winograd, and Dan Blacksberg, 12/21/13. (Photo by Bob Blacksberg)
When Goucher College Hillel welcomed a gift of two Torah scrolls, I was honored to craft mantles and wimples. So much silk! Garnet polished to look like pomegranate seeds! Text and the visions of students to work with! A grand experience.
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A totally spectacular group of artists, writers, social activists, and even puppeteers joined me for a week of creative work as I served as Artist in Residence at the 2013 National Havurah Conference Summer Institute in Rindge, NH. In 4 days of intense collective learning and creating, we built a musical theater production in a box (a cranky) and shared the story of the plight of needleworkers, past and present, with 300 others in a rapt audience!
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It was a beautiful day in Baltimore as the Jewish Museum of Maryland presented its annual Risch Memorial Program. I was delighted to be the featured performer, following brief, powerful presentations by Andres Salguero, Ssuuna, and the DC Turkish Folk Music Group. It always touches me to rediscover the points of connection among immigrant communities, regardless of geographic homes, cultures, and reasons for relocation. A brilliant celebration of cultures!
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Over 350 pieces of beautiful Youghiogheny Art Glass hand-cut, and now I'm on to wet-grinding the edges! It's a new skill that I'm happy to add to my resume as I take on the responsibility to create a soaring double wall of glass above the Torah ark for Chisuk Emuna Congregation in Harrisburg, building anew after a destructive fire in 2009. Check back in mid-May for a look at the completed wall!
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Getting closer to a new recording! Michael Winograd spent a day in the studio on March 28 with Frank London, Dan Blacksberg, Hadar Noiberg, and Alec Speigelman to lay down horn tracks for my as-yet-unnamed CD. Dan Kahn joined in as a special guest vocalist. Next will come strings and soon after that the mixing and mastering, printing and artwork, and OT AZOY! A new Yiddish recording!
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A whirl of creative activity has sent me to the sewing machine to craft two Torah mantles for Goucher College Hillel. One of the scrolls is a rescued Torah from Czechoslovakia, so armed with a palette of palest greys, golds, silvers, and ivories, I headed to Chinatown in NYC on a rainy day to seek silks! What a delight to discover Belraf Fabrics, owned by an Uzbeki couple. A trip around the world in fabric! Take a peek here are the first days' construction.
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I'll be guest lecturing at Dickinson College in Professor Ted Merwin's class during the week that we commemorate the 102nd anniversary of the Triangle Shirtwaist Fire. My program on the fire in words and Yiddish song continues to grow as I learn, and to sadly resonate as we all ponder how little has changed in global workplace safely in the last century. See "Upcoming Events" for details.
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Each year as KlezKamp ends, I proclaim, "This was the best ever!" And every year I mean it. And this year I mean it more! The staff concert nearly lifted the roof off what had been, in its glory days The Granite Hotel in the Catskills. My classes (traditional papercutting and "Our Lives are in our Songs") were filled with curious, thoughtful participants who challenged one another to take each idea to a new level. What an experience. Do not miss this next December!! (sneak peek? Check out the KlezKamp post under Upcoming Events for a video clip!)
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December 22, 2012. Kaye Theater in Manhattan. I soared on the energy of dozens of the finest performers of Yiddish song and Klezmer as we paid tribute to Adrienne Cooper's memory in a three-hour concert of the songs she most loved. What a thrill to sing 'Di Arbuzn' a cappella, in three parts with women performers including Alicia Svigals, Lauren Brody, Shura Lipovsky, and Marsha Gildin. It was both a humbling and energizing evening. Sing out!
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I've just been selected as one of ten 2013 Guild of American Papercutters/X-acto Masters. This means over the course of the coming year I will be testing tools and materials and interacting with other artists to hone our skills and increase interest in papercutting arts. Very exciting!
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Are you aware of the Commonwealth Speakers program under the PA Humanities Commission? Every two years, a roster of artists, story-tellers, historians, and musicians selected by the PHC are able to travel the state offering specific programs at no cost to groups (schools, libraries, state parks, etc.!) other than a basic application fee. I just returned from Ohev Sholom in Williamsport and will head to Reading on Thursday to bring Women's Voices in Yiddish Song to the Federation's Friendship Circle there. Visit the website at www.pahumanities.org and check it out! Free programming! What are you waiting for???
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It's been a long time coming, but here I am, immersed in the joy of working in collaboration with brilliant musicians as I prepare a new recording! Production is in the fine hands of Michael Winograd, and the initial tracks have been laid down with David Licht, Jake Shulman-Ment, Carmen Staaf, Garth Stevenson, and Avi Fox-Rosen, with Lauren Brody and others joining in soon! Hmm... mostly Yiddish, with some surprises mixed in, and everything from spare acoustic accompaniment to over-the-top orchestrations. There'll be more and more about the project as it emerges from its infancy, so watch for news! Perhaps a concert or cd release party in your neighborhood down the line...
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Kesher Zion Congregation in Reading, PA welcomed me as artist-in-residence for the weekend of November 9, 2012, as the congregation honored the memories of Dr. Robert Greenberg and Evelyn Blumberg. I was delighted to find myself in the company of the congregation's brilliant Rabbi Minna Bromberg and rooms full of enthusiastic people hungry to experience new 'takes' on Jewish culture. My programming included a presentation of Yiddish songs of spiritual yearning, a lecture on contemporary Jewish ritual art, and then a rollicking concert on Saturday night with the newly expanded Old World Folk Band! Be sure to check the "Upcoming Events" tab to see where else I'm scheduled to spread YIddish culture!
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I can't say enough about the wonderful Tree of Life Congregation in MORGANTOWN, WEST VIRGINIA, where I just spent a weekend as scholar in residence. If you go to my 'coming events' tab, you may see the whole arc of the weekend, but I want to focus here on the response to my "Rage Against the Sewing Machine" presentation on Saturday night, October 27. Among the folks in attendance were physicians, attorneys, and workplace safety experts who each added to a passionate conversation about the effects of completely unregulated natural gas extraction on West Virginians, coal miners' safety issues, and even the plight of disabled people in sheltered workshops who, like the needle workers of 100 years ago, are largely groups without a voice. 'The more things change, the more they stay the same.' And yet we still find inspiration to act for social justice when we learn and sing the songs of our forebears. "Give us bread and give us roses!"
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A radio interview for a BALTIMORE station (WVIE 1370) allowed me to share some insights into the history of labor activism in the United States on September 2, 2012 - Labor Day weekend. So much more meaningful than running to sporting goods stores for sale items, this was a chance to engage listeners in anthemic Yiddish songs and their contexts. So many songs... so little time! But every time a Yiddish song is SUNG, it lives a new life.
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It's late summer, so a trip to the BLOCK AND HEXTER VACATION CENTER in Poyntelle, PA came around on my calendar. My teaching schedule allowed me to alternate sessions with fellow presenter Saul Silas Fahti, as we worked to expand the artistic, musical, polititcal, and in Saul's case, even cosmological horizons of the elders who flocked to the Poconos to participate, learn, and (it's a Jewish camp!) eat 3 squares a day. Whether singing, lecturing, or engaging in issues, I always learn from interactions with program participants. One highlight this year was meeting two Hungarian-born sisters who offered me a macaronic (mixed language) song that alternates lines between Hungarian and German/Yiddish. Will it make the cut on my upcoming recording? Stay tuned!
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A quick trip to MADISON, WISCONSIN as part of "A Bisele KlezKamp" on July 22 was a terrific bright spot in a busy summer season! Over 200 people buzzed around programming by some of the best teacher/artists in the Yiddish folk arts world as Michael Wex, Cookie Segelstein, Lauren Brody, Henry Sapoznik, Sherry Mayrent, Miriam Isaacs, David Spies, Sara Gordon, Kurt Bjorling, Steve Weintraub, and I managed to compress a week's worth of learning into one fabulous day. Keep up-to-date with U. OF WISCONSIN'S MAYRENT CENTER to find out what Yiddish programming will be offered throughout the year before our triumphant return next summer!
On Friday night prior to 'ABKK' I was hosted by Congregation Shaarei Shomayim where I presented an a cappella lecture/recital titled "Healing the World in Yiddish Song." Given the political upheavals and charged emotions in Madison these days, the program was a welcome one. The room was packed with people of all ages, and it was a special joy to me to be singing in a room within Frank Lloyd Wright's historic Unitarian Church, where the congregation meets regularly.
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Lauren Brody and I head to PITTSBURGH on June 3 for two concerts, a family event in the morning, and a full concert in the late afternoon at the JCC, in conjunction with the Jewish Museum's exhibit on the artists who illustrated the works of I.B. Singer. We're working up new material and are delighted that both PennPAT and the PA Humanities Council are supporting the program with generous grants. Come celebrate Yiddish culture!
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Healing the World in Yiddish - This lecture/recital program drew people from a wide variety of backgrounds and ages to a program sponsored but DICKINSON COLLEGE, the Literary Heritage Fund, Association for Jewish Studies, and the Jewish Federation of Greater Harrisburg on April 24. With PowerPoint translations and even a visit from Dan Kahn and the Painted Bird on screen, we explored the drive for human rights that infuses Yiddish song, and the activism that the songs inspire. As part of a series titled "Telling Jewish Stories through the Arts," the evening's riches were obvious as participants lingered over tea and cake and shared the stories that bubbled up in response to the presentation. What a great night!
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On Sunday, April 1, the Jewish Federation of Greater DAYTON and the Lynda A. Cohen Yiddish Club welcomed Lauren Brody and me for a concert. It was the first time that Lauren and I had the opportunity to present a full concert and we felt like siblings on the stage, finding parallel expressions of meaning and intention in her accordion and my voice without even a nod or a word. Utilizing the full range of her instrument, Lauren crafted a unique setting for each song, and the 'whole cloth' was fantastic.
We're already warming up for an upcoming event in June, so stay tuned for details!!
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MAURICE SENDAK! I write this on the day of Maurice Sendak's passing. (If you haven't heard both the recent Fresh Air interview and the hilarious pair of Colbert interviews with the incomparable Mr. Sendak, go find them NOW and come back here in an hour...) I am grateful and humbled to have had the opportunity to spend several months immersed in the life and work of Mr. Sendak, preparing for a program built around the Rosenbach's exhibit of the influences of his Jewish world on his life's work. So on Sunday, April 15, the Haverford Public Library swelled with the sounds of Klezmer as I took over the children's wing of the library to present "Yiddish in the Nutshell" with Ken Ulansey on clarinet and Heath Allen on keyboard. Sendak's early life in a Yiddish-speaking immigrant neighborhood in Brooklyn, the awareness of evil in the world, and the fears and bravery of children shaped much of his life's work, and I blended his personal life into songs and stories for a rollicking hour. The program was interactive, with sing-alongs, props, costumes, and wild Sendakian tales abounding. It was a Yiddishe Vilde 'Rumpus' for everyone's inner child! Pick up a book by Maurice Sendak and look deeply into it. You may be changed!
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LAFAYETTE COLLEGE Hillel hosted me on Tuesday night, March 20 for a program in song and story on the actual history of the Sarajevo Hagaddah. It was a real one-woman show as I demonstrated design, lettering, and gilding techniques of the centuries-old masterpiece, as well as recounted its improbable story interspersed with songs in the Sarajevo dialect of Judeo-Spanish, in Yiddish, and in Hebrew, along with a Moroccan chant - all related to the Hagaddah. The audience included students, college faculty, and local residents, and there was a lively Q and A at the conclusion of the program. Lafayette has a gorgeous old campus perched above the city of Easton at the confluence of the Delaware and Raritan rivers. I hope to return!
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LAUREN BRODY will join me in presenting a full concert in Dayton, Ohio on Sunday, April 1 for the annual event honoring the memory of Lynda A. Cohen. We are thrilled to have the opportunity to share the stage and have been working up two terrific sets for the Yiddish club and expected gathered throngs!
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A presentation of my concert "Women's Voices in Yiddish Song" at Penn State University in Middletown, PA on February 23 drew people from Lancaster, York, Lebanon, and the greater Harrisburg area. Having been interviewed for an upcoming article in a Dayton, Ohio paper the night before, I kept thinking during the concert of a particular question I was asked: "What do you want people to take away from your performance?" So I'll tell you: I want people to be so surprised and touched that they come away with a desire to dig a little deeper into Yiddish culture and discover something about themselves. The values and history that are packed into our songs go far in teaching us how to know ourselves if we just open our hearts a bit. That's why I sing. Oh, and also, I sing because I can't NOT sing!!
Only a week to go before Kerhonkson, NY becomes the temporary capital of Yiddishland! This year at KlezKamp I'll be teaching the hands-on papercutting course and a four-session a capella lecture/recital course.
I'm especially looking forward to the time I'll be carving out with fellow PennPAT artist SUSAN WATTS to work on some vocal duets and arrangements, and to begin taking concrete steps towards my NEW RECORDING, which will be produced by the amazing MICHAEL WINOGRAD! Check this website regularly for announcements, too, of a new duo in the works featuring MICHAEL WEX and Susan Leviton. Use your imagination for now - details to follow soon!
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On Sunday, November 20, 2011, I presented a "Conversation with the Artist" in conjunction with the "Making it Better: Folk Art in Pennsylvania Today" exhibit in which one of my papercuts is featured. I demonstrated the art of Jewish papercutting and shared insights into its history and contemporary expressions with about 30 museum-goers. On exhibit through April 29, 2012, Making It Better tells the stories of over 30 master artists whose works represent a wide array of traditions such as African dance, stone wall construction, Native American clay flutes, Pysanky eggs, contemporary blacksmith work, woodcarving, and Vietnamese funerary portraits. I'm honored to have been chosen to have my work represented among so many brilliant examples of folk arts.
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Groundbreaking for Chisuk Emuna Congregation's new synagogue took place in Harrisburg on Sunday, October 16, 2011, and over 350 people celebrated with a block party that featured kugel in a sukkah, carnival food, games and abundant crafts for children, and an afternoon of outstanding music: klezmer, jazz, and old-timey. Bands set up on a concrete pad at one end of the soon-to-be-a-shul property, and music filled the air! I had the pleasure of singing once again with the Old World Folk Band, which has recently welcomed several new musicians as regulars, and which added additional guest performers for the outdoor event.
The synagogue was destroyed by an accidental fire in 2009, and more recently was left homeless when The Flood of 2011 forced the congregation from temporary quarters in the JCC. The sense that the next plague was waiting in the wings was banished by the wonderful welcome to a new neighbrhood, and it looks like the block party may become an annual event!
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A whirlwind few days at the 14th annual IAYC (International Association of Yiddish Clubs) conference in Novi, Michigan offered me the opportunity to perform and teach, and to meet people from all over the country who gathered to celebrate Yiddish culture. Highlights for me were presenting my powerful lecure/recital, "Rage Against the Sewing Machine" in this 100th anniversary year following the Triangle Fire, and joining Dan Kahn on the bandstand following my solo concert.
To see parts of one of my programs at the conference, please visit www.yiddishlives.com/susanleviton
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