What We Do

Founded in 1987, Dallas-based Big Thought is one of the nation’s leading nonprofits focused on building partnerships that allow all children access to quality learning opportunities. Driven by our mission — to make imagination a part of everyday learning — we do our work so that children have opportunities to become imaginative, adaptable and productive adults, resulting in stronger communities and a more capable future workforce. We do this because we believe that every child and family should be immersed in opportunities to imagine, create and succeed. Our work is accomplished in four distinct ways:

Build creative learning systems
We build systems that impact our city at home, in schools and in the community. They are based around a group of partners who work together to organize resources and provide programs. We coordinate the partnerships, mobilize the organizations and surround the community with high-quality creative learning opportunities tailored to their needs. Our programs reach 300,000 children, families and teachers annually and deliver more than one million hours of individual creative instruction and programming each year. Our biggest and most ambitious system to date is Thriving Minds.


Recruit a creative learning workforce
We believe that an inspired community supports the widest range of opportunities for people to share their skills. To that end, we are recruiting a workforce comprised of individuals of all skill levels, from interns and apprentices to professional teaching artists, who are willing to demonstrate their talents and interests through our in-school and out-of-school programs. Interested? Apply here.


Perform research & assessment

Big Thought has a dedicated research department devoted to evaluating and improving our programs. Over the last decade, we have collected test scores, student work and reactions from the students, families, teachers and administrators involved in our programs, and used this wealth of information to make our programs more effective. In addition, we have forged powerful relationships with partners nationwide, eager to draw on our integrated arts education and creative learning research. More.


Speak & consult
We believe in sharing knowledge and best practices. Over the past several years, colleagues, community leaders, educational reformers and government entities across the country have looked to our work as a model for similar initiatives. We have distinguished speakers on staff that travel all over the country giving presentations on what we have learned and accomplished. To request a speaker at your conference or for more information on our consulting services, email us.