Mark Carruthers Biography
Mark Carruthers joined BBC Northern Ireland in 1989. Since then he has presented countless news and current affairs programmes on both television and radio. His present commitments include BBC Newsline, Let's Talk, Spotlight and Evening Extra and he recently presented a series of special television reports from tsunami-stricken Sri Lanka. He was nominated for a prestigious Royal Television Society award for his work in 2003. In 2005 he and his Newsline co-presenter, Donna Traynor, lifted a prestigious IFTA – an Irish Film and Television Award – for Best News Programme. In June 2007 he was a guest speaker at an international conference on journalism and conflict resolution in the Colombian capital Bogota.
Mark studied political science at Queen's University Belfast, graduating in 1987. In 1989 he was awarded a Master's degree in Irish politics. Beyond politics Mark is a passionate advocate of the arts. He is the chairman of the board of the Lyric Theatre in Belfast and is at the forefront of the very successful campaign to rebuild the theatre on its existing site at a cost of £17.5m. He is also a former chairman of Tinderbox Theatre Company and has served on the boards of the Old Museum Arts Centre and the Ireland Romania Cultural Foundation.
He is co-editor, with Stephen Douds, of Stepping Stones: The Arts in Ulster 1971-2001 which was published by Blackstaff Press in autumn 2001. He is a founder of the arts lobby group Cultural Resolution which published a collection of essays, Re-imagining Belfast: a manifesto for the arts, in October 2003.