MISSION
“A PLACE FOR INSPIRING HUMAN POTENTIAL BY FOSTERING CREATIVITY, EDUCATION, AND COMMUNITY BUILDING,"
JUMP, or Jack’s Urban Meeting Place, is a nonprofit interactive creative center and community gathering place. It’s a space to celebrate the human spirit. Where collaborations, encounters, workshops, festivals, exhibitions, performances, and community projects can inspire, educate, and connect. It’s where everyone can discover new possibilities and explore their potential.
An experience at JUMP is an invitation to look at the world and yourself in new ways and to try things for the first time. JUMP is not just the name of this place; it also drives our mission. It takes gumption to jump since sometimes jumping can feel risky. However, when we do finally jump, we are able to change our perspective, expand our possibilities, and enrich our lives.
HISTORY
The story of JUMP begins with J.R. (Jack) Simplot. He was a pioneer and visionary in the business of agriculture. But if you asked him, he would tell you ‘I am just an old farmer.’ He liked to take chances on big things and little things. He always kept an eye to the future, while paying respect to where he’d come from. His vision was to grow food for the world – and to provide opportunities for the Idaho community he loved so much.
One of Jack’s ideas was to preserve vintage tractors and create a museum to educate others about the important role farmers and the farming industry play in our society. To quote J. R., “My idea was to show the young people, ‘here’s how we got where we’re at; here’s the machinery we used,’ and ask them, ‘Where do you want to go from here?’ ”
When J. R. passed away in 2008, he left behind not only his legacy but also a collection of over 110 vintage tractors. While deciding what to do with these tractors, a new idea emerged. Instead of building a typical tractor museum, why not build a lively community space where the tractors can be appreciated for more than just their history. Tractors can be seen as inspiring works of human ingenuity and innovation, which have helped cultivate the world we know today and can inspire the world of tomorrow. The result of that idea is the dynamic JUMP building you can visit and explore today.
JUMP'S GUIDING VALUES
We are a nonprofit organization guided by the following values. We seek to venture and create with community collaborators that share similar values.
RESPECT
We believe in being supportive, transparent, honest, respectful, caring and compassionate towards all people in personal and organizational relationships.
ENGAGE
We are committed to creating a welcoming, fun, out of the box, educational environment that engages communities and opens one’s mind to new possibilities and experiences, encouraging individuals and organizations to JUMP to a new level.
COURAGE
We believe in innovative thinking, creativity and taking risks. We embrace change. Our courage to fail gives us the confidence to succeed.
CONNECT
We believe in creating an environment for bringing people and organizations together to build a strong community.
JUMP LLC is owned and funded 100% by the J R Simplot Foundation, which is a 501(c)(3) exempt private foundation.
VISION FOR THE JUMP BUILDING
Shared environments are an opportunity for people to learn and grow together. These are our libraries, parks, museums, meeting spaces, art venues and public markets. They are important because they spark our imagination and enrich our lives.
Take libraries, which for generations have been a place to find books by which we explore the world and are inspired to try new things. In a similar way our museums and art venues inspire us by allowing us to explore the world and ourselves. Public markets are where we test new products and share culture. Parks are shared spaces where we meet neighbors and learn to play. We are in love with shared spaces because they connect us and unleash human potential. This is why we designed JUMP to be a large, beautiful, forward-thinking intermix of shared spaces right in the heart of downtown Boise.
Upon arrival at JUMP, you are greeted with a vibrant 3-acre public park. The Park boasts an outdoor amphitheater, sweeping terraces, meeting areas, play areas, and unique views of the city and the surrounding mountains. There is plenty of space to roam, a structure to climb on, and most remarkably an opportunity to ride a five-story slide! Every corner of the park is connected to free high-speed public Wi-Fi.
Exploring the building will lead you to new types of spaces that we call studios. The PLAY studio is stocked with audio and video equipment to record an album or edit a movie. The SHARE studio features an industrial-grade kitchen to innovate recipes or discover new types of food. A visit to the MAKE studio leads you to a space stocked with tools to build things, and a 3D printer for prototyping ideas. MOVE studio is a place for everything from dance to meditation and the INSPIRE studio is designed for collaboration and to brainstorm ideas. In addition to the studios are elegant event spaces for hosting galas, fundraisers, and concerts. All the spaces weave together so they are easy to find and discover. Their proximity also promotes an intermingling of ideas and encourages new ways of thinking. We think this intermix of collaborative environments is the future of shared space.
As a finishing touch (or really, as what began it all) we placed J.R.’s collection of vintage tractors and farm equipment around JUMP to serve as an explorative museum exhibit that showcases the innovation and imagination of the generations before us co-mingling with the ideas that are moving us forward.
In the end this is much more than a shared space, it is a vibrant imaginative ecosystem and with community participation it comes to life. We built an inviting space so a wide range of people can come together to share thoughts, talents, knowledge, recipes, and ideas. Together we will discover new abilities and interests that are much deeper than we’d ever imagined. JUMP is a space that invites you to unlock your potential, inspire, innovate, and push the human story forward.
