"Who serves those who serve?"
That was the question that has stuck in Mark Shunock's mind for years.
Fans may know him as the in-arena host for the Vegas Golden Knights and host and ring announcer for Top Rank Boxing on ESPN but he is also a former Broadway performer that came to Las Vegas 14 years ago to star in a show called Rock Of Ages. He says it takes a small army to put on shows on the Strip and knows it's time locals got more love.
"Forty million people visit Las Vegas every year to forget their problems, but in a city designed for visitors, locals don't always get the attention they deserve," Shunock said.
Shunock has been giving back as part of The Space's Mondays Dark program for years. That program is put on twice a month and is a "Saturday Night Live-type show" that raises $10,000 per event for local nonprofit organization. Shunock says they have helped over 200 local organizations and raised millions of dollars so far.
However, he says there is more that can be done to help our community.
Enter The Space 2.0, a project that he has spearheaded and that has been in the works for years.
It includes an 80,000-square-foot building that is located at the corner of Polaris and Harmon and will be five stories tall. Several nonprofits will call the building home including:
- Community Counseling Center of Southern Nevada
- Life By Music
- Firefighter Behavioral Health Alliance
- CORE
- Public Education Foundation
- Kids In The Space
- Entertainment Community Fund
Some of the services that will be offered at The Space 2.0 include counseling, case management, HIV support services, art/drama/music therapy, after-school programming, and behavioral health workshops.
"The Space 2.0 is more than a building. It's a commitment to the people who make Las Vegas the entertainment capital of the world," Shunock said. "This center is a reflection of our dedication to providing support, resources, and a sense of community for our city's workforce. The service industry puts this city of their back, so we've made it our mission to have theirs."
For the Firefighter Behavioral Health Alliance and the Entertainment Community Fund, this will be their first physical locations in the valley. The pandemic is what first sparked the idea of ECF opening an office in Las Vegas.
"We did a livestream and raised $122,000. We didn't know how to distribute that money to the entertainment community, which is when I approached ECF with the condition that the money would go directly to Las Vegas," Shunock said. "They did that and ended up giving $1.2 million in emergency grants to people in the Las Vegas entertainment community."
Actor Annette Bening, who chairs ECF, says that sparked the idea of the organization opening a branch in Las Vegas.
"The overwhelming response from the community underscored the need for our services," Bening said. "When we learned about The Space 2.0, it presented the ideal opportunity to bring the fund to one of the entertainment capitals of the world."
She added that having the fund in Las Vegas will help those in the arts build more stability into their lives with services like career counseling, how to find new and additional work opportunities, financial wellness classes, health insurance programs, and disaster assistance programs.
So where are we right now?
The building is estimated to cost $50 million.
Through private fundraising, the project has already brought in $2 million, thanks to several donors like UFC.
On Monday, officials announced the kickoff to their public capital fundraising campaign. Shunock says there are levels to donate from $25 up to $20 million.
State Sen. Fabian Doñate is also sponsoring Senate Bill 178, which would appropriate some funding for The Space 2.0.
"A $2 billion movie studio could be coming to Las Vegas, which is exciting. The timing is perfect," Shunock said. "We're gone through the entitlement process and are on to design and construction."
According to documents provided at the event, the goal is to put shovels in the ground in early 2026 and officially open The Space 2.0 in the fourth quarter of 2028.
You can learn more about the project here.