March 1987: Mitch Jericho and Edith O’Donnell founded the 32nd chapter of Young Audiences, Inc. under the name Young Audiences of North Texas.
1988: The agency presents 56 performances to 3,000 children in 17 schools with five artist ensembles. 
1990: 50,000 students are served by 205 performances. Gigi Antoni is named Program Director.
1993: 100,000 students are served. Residency programs are introduced and Creative Solutions is launched.
1994: 302,480 children are served by 926 performances and 1,513 residencies.
1996: Gigi Antoni is promoted to Executive Director. Young Audiences of North Texas is awarded Young Audiences Chapter of the Year. Library Live! is piloted. The program grows to 26 libraries serving over 8,000 children annually by 2006.
1998: Dallas ArtsPartners is piloted. The program grows to serve all 156 Dallas ISD elementary schools by 2000.
2001: Big Thought embarks upon a three-year plus longitudinal study examining the effects of Dallas ArtsPartners on students, teachers, and cultural organizations. The study is longitudinal, rigorous, intensive, collaborative and literacy-focused.
2003: Selected by the Ford Foundation to develop a family learning and parent advocacy component of the ArtsPartners program. Nokia, Inc. chooses Young Audiences as U.S. implementation partner for their global Make a Connection program.
2004: The agency is renamed Big Thought. Creative Solutions is awarded the Coming Up Taller award by the President’s Committee on the Arts and the Humanities.
2006: The Wallace Foundation grants Big Thought $1.06 million to plan a city-wide arts learning initiative. Big Thought is recipient of a U.S. Department of Education grant to train arts specialists as arts integration resources.
2007: The Wallace Foundation grants Big Thought a three-year $8 million grant to implement a citywide creative learning system now known as Thriving Minds. Big Thought Endowment Fund is established. Big Thought publishes More Than Measuring, a book outlining the Big Thought philosophy and methods of assessment.
2008: Big Thought receives a $2 million grant from the Texas Education Agency to launch the Thriving Minds after-school program in 20 Dallas ISD schools.
2009: Americans for the Arts presents Big Thought with the Arts Education Award given annually to the organization identified as the best in arts education program design and execution, as well as leadership. Big Thought is chosen by the North Texas Super Bowl XLV Host Committee to help design the SLANT 45 (Service Learning Adventures in North Texas) program, a yearlong project that will affect an estimated 20,000 students in North Texas and bring more than 45,000 hours of community service to the region. Thriving Minds accepts Grace Note Award from New Philharmonic Orchestra of Irving for efforts in arts education.
2010: The Wallace Foundation renews committment to Big Thought with four-year $4.3 million gift to continue implementation of citywide creative learning system