Central Current is pleased to announce the hiring of its second full-time reporter, Yolanda Stewart, who will cover Arts & Culture.
Stewart graduated from Syracuse’s Newhouse School with a journalism degree earlier this year. A native of the Bronx, Stewart has a passion for the arts, people and places, which she hopes to carry into her journalism career in Central New York.
The reporting position was created through grants from the Central New York Community Foundation and the John Ben Snow Memorial Trust.
Central Current is a nonprofit, nonpartisan independent news website supported by philanthropy and charitable donations. The nonprofit was founded in 2020, and launched in 2022 with the hiring of its editor-in-chief, Julie McMahon, and reporter Chris Libonati. Chief of Staff Christina Whiteside joined the team to oversee operations and fundraising around the same time. That makes Stewart the fourth full-time member of the Central Current team.
Stewart brings to Central New York a strong multimedia skill set that she will apply to visual and written storytelling. She’ll incorporate photo, video, audio and social media into her coverage and contribute to the Central Current Radio program, made possible through a partnership with WCNY.
Stewart earned her master’s degree in communication from Syracuse University’s S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications, and her bachelor’s degree in English from Daemen University in Buffalo. She has worked in nonprofits and communications, and as a freelance writer and YouTube series host.
Stewart will help expand and establish Central Current’s Arts & Culture coverage, to include stories about events, goings on about town, people, communities and solutions to problems facing Central New York. Her reporting will span performing and visual arts, neighborhoods and schools, entrepreneurs and artists.
As a newcomer to Syracuse, she’s on the lookout for story ideas and hoping to make connections and learn more about the community. She can be reached at ystewart@centralcurrent.org.
