Dec. 21—CUMBERLAND, Md. — Allegany College of Maryland has partnered with leaders from the entertainment industry and bluegrass great Del McCoury to offer a new curriculum in social media that could lead to a career in today's digital world.

The one-year certificate program, titled Social Media Marketing, will get underway Jan. 11 and provide coursework in social media platforms, data analytics, audio and video, photography and core marketing principles.

Students who excel in the program will be eligible to intern for DelFest at the festival's new office and educational center at 60 Pershing St. in Cumberland. The certificate could lead to work with any number of music industry content providers and streaming platforms, as well as non-entertainment-related companies.

In addition to ACM, the new social media program was made possible by the McCoury family and Stan Strickland, McCoury family manager and owner of Rainmaker Music, and Brandon Butler, owner of the the consulting firm Pinnacle Strategies.

"This program is the only one like it in the entire state of Maryland," Butler said. "All the big (institutions) have programs similar but they are teaching the philosophy of it but not the nuts and bolts. This is where you are looking at an industry-recognized credential with ACM to do this line of work so you can walk out ready for a job. It makes this (program) unique."

DelFest representatives had been looking for ways to establish an educational offering for some time, according to Strickland. A step in that direction occurred on Dec. 8 when Strickland and Del McCoury purchased property at 60 Pershing St., providing space for an internship center and social media lab off campus.

Courses will be held at the ACM campus on Willowbrook Road with students who excel in the program moving to 60 Pershing St. to intern with Rainmaker Music and DelFest.

The certificate program is accredited by the Maryland Higher Education Commission.

"There was no other program like it in the state of Maryland," John Bone, ACM multimedia program director, said. "So (MHEC) had to put it out for a 60-day comment period. So they put it up right away. It came back as quickly as possible that we were approved to offer the certificate."

The social media marketing certificate will be under ACM's business administration discipline. Students can pursue an associate arts degree in business or opt for the certificate program, which consists of 10 courses, three credit hours each.

"People are looking to get into this industry, whether it's the music business, or a hospital looking to get their message out, or a nonprofit, or car dealership," Butler said. "Social media is so ingrained in our life now. Businesses are staking their livelihood on that and this is us getting ahead of the curve."

According to Strickland, who manages more than 10 acts primarily in the bluegrass field, industry titans like Spotify, Live Nation, Redeye Worldwide and The Orchard, a content distributor owned by Sony, are in need of individuals to work in the digital field in places like Nashville, New York and Los Angeles, as well as the possibility of telework.

"The job listings in Nashville alone ... there is a desperate need to hire people that have some knowledge in social media," Strickland said. "When you add data analytics ... you don't need to be a math major but you need to understand something about analytics today in social marketing. We are training people to get up to speed quickly and get a job."

The career program is designed to enable students to seek employment in a variety of roles, including social media manager, social media strategist, online community manager, social media marketing coordinator, blogger, copywriter, consultant and analyst.

"For some in this community it is expensive to attend (college)," David Jones, ACM vice president of advancement, said. "Our commitment is that our financial aid office is there so that anyone with a need or desire, we will make sure they come (to ACM) at a low or no cost. We want to be affordable."

"We can see the need at the local, regional, as well as national level," said Kurt Hoffman, ACM senior vice president of student affairs, "and this instruction can provide good-paying jobs."

The program offerings begin Jan. 11. For more information, email John Bone at jbone@allegany.edu.

Greg Larry is a reporter at the Cumberland Times-News. To reach him, call 304-639-4951, email glarry@times-news.com and follow him on Twitter @GregLarryCTN.