Philly’s Roberta Fallon, TheArtBlog co-founder and WHYY community news partner, has died

Roberta Fallon, 76, who co-founded TheArtBlog.org as one of the Philadelphia region’s longest-running news outlets dedicated to the arts, has died. On Dec. 5, she succumbed to injuries sustained from being hit by a driver last month.

Fallon founded TheArtBlog.org in 2003 with friend and partner Libby Rosof. As its executive director, Fallon joined WHYY’s News and Information Community Exchange, also known as N.I.C.E., a support cohort for independent purveyors of community news. She was an adjunct instructor of art at St. Joseph’s University.

Fallon shut down TheArtBlog earlier this year, saying the administrative and fundraising burdens were too great to continue. She pivoted to join other partners in creating a local arts reviews and news Substack called Philly Occasional, launching just weeks before she died.

Fallon’s dedication to the Philadelphia arts community was well-known and revered by many in the city. She provided a platform that gave many artists their first review and many writers their first byline.

Fallon was also known for her kind and generous demeanor, approaching art exhibits and artists with more positivity than criticism.

“They were these really sweet witnesses to everything that was going on,” artist Terri Saulin said of Fallon and Rosof on the announcement of TheArtBlog’s 20th anniversary.

“Roberta was a true supporter of the arts,” artist Diane Burko posted recently on Instagram. “But aside from that she was such an incredibly kind, thoughtful and curious individual. I feel blessed to have known her.”

Fallon once said that she and Rosof’s primary role in the Philadelphia arts community was as cheerleaders, not critics.

“The community we wanted to cover was not the art museums particularly — although we have covered them — it was the alternative galleries, the performance art, the experimental things,” she said in June 2025. “We didn’t want to bash them. We felt it was a nascent community that needed to be uplifted.”

Fallon’s interests extended into politics, always with an eye on public funding for the arts. During the 2023 mayoral election primary, she was part of an effort, along with the Greater Philadelphia Cultural Alliance, to grill candidates about their commitment to the city’s arts and culture sector.

Rosof once said her commitment was always with artists and writers.

“I totally love and adore the writers. Doing the podcast is a joy. Working with the writers is a joy,” she said in June 2025. “The administration is not quite a joy, but I do it.”

Rosof’s labor of love, TheArtBlog, will be maintained as a digital archive by Moore College of Art and Design. Donations in memoriam are directed to Moore College.

Editor’s note: WHYY’s Peter Crimmins was once involved in TheArtBlog, recording and editing podcast interviews hosted by Fallon and Rosof.

Correction: This story has been updated to reflect the correct date of Fallon’s death.