southwest mississippi multiplex

For Early Innovative Intervention Studies

  • Welcome to the Creative Place

    Our mission is to grow the creative capacity of Southwest Mississippi residents, citizen artists, and youth.

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  • Blog

    Providing educational, social, familial, and communal insight...

    Grateful for the Dream
    February 2, 2026
    We are proud to share our first-ever coauthored student blog! LaCarley Quin and Janzell Williams chose to collaborate, combine their voices, and write together—showing us how writing can be even stronger when done in community. This co-written piece reflects thoughtful reflection, teamwork,...
    A Halo in the Sky
    January 30, 2026
    January 27 2026, was one the best days of my life. I wish I could go back. I experienced a lunar halo eclipse at night at 7:49 pm. It was so pretty. There was a huge circle around the moon and outside of the circle there was fog and clouds but on the inside it was pitch black with nothing but the...
    Woven With Faith
    January 23, 2026
    Hi, my name is LeAnna Gordon and I am a fiber artist and the writer of this blog, Devine Designs. I can't wait for you to come along with me on this journey to create my very own crochet business. I am currently working on what it will be called, what I will sell, and the prices. This blog will...
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  • Literacy Campaign: #1000Strong

     

    SMMEIIS aims to provide early intervention and supplemental programs to both improve literacy and raise awareness about illiteracy in Southwest Mississippi. Our goal is to discover the correlations of illiteracy to issues of our community such as poverty, low self-esteem/ social emotional development, racial inequality, and gun violence. By 2026, we want to increase the literacy levels of 1,000 children and adults, ensuring that our community experiences the lifelong advantages of literacy.

     

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  • Arts & Culture

    "The Mountaintop" Featuring Emerge Theatre Group - GET TICKETS HERE

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    CALL FOR ART

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  • Arts & Culture

    The PIZZAZZ Dance Troupe Presents...

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  • artist-in-residence

    Meet Maleigh Crespo, Our 2023-2024 Artist-In-Residence

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    Maleigh makes history as our first Literary Artist-in-Residence

    Maleigh Crespo has established herself as a talented writer, regularly contributing insightful and engaging blogs to our platform. Her unique perspective and captivating writing style have garnered a loyal following and have enriched our readers' experience. In addition to her blog contributions, Maleigh has also curated our organization's first-ever creative writing contest. As our literary artist in residence, Maleigh will collaborate with our team to develop exciting literary initiatives and help nurture a vibrant creative community in our city.

    BookSong: "Do you see the clouds?" By Maleah Dawn, Our 2022 Artist-in-Residence

    BOOKSONGS are an educational resource for elementary teachers and learners. We take educational texts/ literature and make the information/ stories appealing to the youthful ear. In this BookSong, Maleah Dawn makes a musical adaptation of the children's book, "Cloud Dance", by Thomas Locker.

     

    BookSong: "I am water" By Maleah Dawn, Our 2022 Artist-in-Residence

    BOOKSONGS are an educational resource for elementary teachers and learners. We take educational texts/ literature and make the information/ stories appealing to the youthful ear. In this BookSong, Maleah Dawn makes a musical adaptation of the children's book, "Water Dance", by Thomas Locker.

  • Arts & culture

    The Arts are an expression of culture and culture reflects people.

    EMERGE Theatre Group

    Our theatre program exposes underserved audiences to transformative, educational, and inspirational theatre. We stage stories and live performances that raise awareness and provide opportunities for youth and adults to learn techniques in playwriting and acting, while building community.

    The PIZZAZZ Dance Troupe

    PIZZAZZ Dance Troupe, founded in 1990, is our non-competitive, performance-based dance education program is for girls ages 3-18. PIZZAZZ uses multi-genre dance as a catalyst to promote self-love and empowerment, creative expression, social-emotional development, conflict resolution, cultural appreciation, social justice, character-building, critical thinking, and growth mindset. Parents and the community can follow PIZZAZZ activity on Facebook.

    "We Lit" Literary Festival

    Our celebration of literary arts and oral lore takes place the first Saturday in February. The festival features local writers/ authors and historians/ storytellers through a community book fair and formal programming. In addition, young writers from the Southwest Mississippi region are encouraged to submit creative pieces (prose, fiction, plays, essays, or poetry) so that they can receive mentorship and public readings during our festival.

    Artist Residencies & Enrichment

    We collaborate with cultural workers, creative professionals, actors, directors, designers, choreographers, and hybrid artists who are passionate about doing meaningful work in Mississippi. Artists may be invited or may apply when applications are available. SMMEIIS also sends teaching artists out into the community to provide arts enrichment to school districts, organizations, civic and church groups, and educational entities.

  • key partners

    Our work would not be possible without these amazing collaborators.

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  • connect with us

    Have a seat at our table. Ask about our vision. Ask about our goals. Ask about our core values. Ask about collaboration, mediation, or just say hello.

    1312 C Harrison Ave.
    McComb, MS 39648
    Mon-Fri 8:00 am - 5:00 pm
    601-600-8345
    601-600-8345
    smmeiis.thecreativeplace@gmail.com
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