This month for Arab American Heritage Month, WayOut is featuring Symone Salib (she/her), a first generation Cuban/Egyptian street artist, muralist, and educator based out of Philadelphia. Through acrylic paint and illustration she works to highlight the lives of people, with an emphasis on BIPOC across her city since 2017. She focuses on vibrantly sharing the stories of people in hopes we can connect and resonate with humans who are different from ourselves. She strives to spread joy and create a space where people are not only seen but heard. Her work is a reclamation of space both physically and politically as she asserts the humanity of black and brown bodies and the necessity for justice against police brutality, sexism, and homophobia.

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This Women’s History Month, Jake Foster, our Art Exhibitions Manager, sat down for a conversation via Zoom with someone who has been an ardent supporter of women artists in Philadelphia for decades; artist and collector Linda Lee Alter, who goes by Lee. Lee has been a fine artist for more than 60 years. She has taught arts and crafts, worked as a commercial artist and illustrator, exhibited in galleries and museums, and has artwork in many private and public collections.

In the 1980s, she started collecting art by women after realizing that women are severely underrepresented in museum collections. In 2010, she gave this collection to the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts to establish the Linda Lee Alter Collection of Art by Women, which includes over 500 works. In 1991, Lee founded the Leeway Foundation to make grants to women and trans artists living in the greater Philadelphia region.

In our interview, we also talk about the role of the artist in times of protest, her coming out in 2014, and subsequently finding community here at the William Way LGBT Community Center.

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Trans Art Mart is a vibrant annual marketplace showcasing the work of trans, non-binary, and gender-expansive creatives in the Philadelphia region. The event brings together an extensive range of creative practices—including visual art, crafts, home goods, clothing, and other handmade works—and will take place on Sunday, December 14, 2025, 11AM to 5PM, at the Bok Bulding

WayOut sat down for an interview with Miller Potoma, Event Manager of Trans Art Mart. The conversation explores the significance of queer and trans-led cultural programming, the practical considerations of organizing community-centered events, and the collective impact of creating spaces where LGBTQ+ artists can gather and thrive.

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Jake Foster sat down for an interview with Rami George, our Artist-in-Residence, for Arab Heritage Month in April 2025.

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