UW Tacoma Associate Professor Beverly Naidus will read and show slides from her new book, Arts for Change: Teaching Outside the Frame (New Village Press, 2009) at a book signing Weds., April 1, at 12:30 p.m. in the Tacoma branch of the University Book Store, 1754 Pacific Ave. The book explores the motivations and challenges of teaching socially engaged arts in a university setting.

Based on personal experiences in the classroom, Arts for Change examines Naidus’s university teaching career and guides readers through a progression of steps to help students observe the world around them and craft artistic responses to what they see.

The book combines memoir, fable, theory and history, along with the stories of 33 other artists who teach art for social change in different contexts, and answers questions about how to successfully engage students and use art to raise consciousness.

Naidus, an artist, activist and writer who joined UW Tacoma in 2003, focuses much of her teaching, research and artwork on the topics of body image, the environmental crisis, labor and globalization, cultural identity and racism, media literacy and war. Her work has been exhibited internationally in a variety of mediums.

Read more about Naidus and Arts for Change at http://www.artsforchange.org .