The Northern Michigan University Coffee House Concert Series will begin its 2012-13 season on Friday, Sept. 14 with a concert featuring local bands Team Awesome and Shadow Arcade.

The series, sponsored by the Beaumier Upper Peninsula Heritage Center, hosts performances by folk musicians and songwriters from the area.

“While our other performing arts series, like Northern Nights, bring in acts from across the country, the Coffee House Series is specifically geared toward folk artists from Marquette and the U.P.,” said director of the Beaumier Heritage Center Dan Truckey.

The Coffee House Series was created out of a need for venues that could house quieter, more intimate performances.

“We have a lot of great folk artists and songwriters in the area, but there really are not very many places that they can play,” Truckey said. “We felt that we needed to create more opportunities for these types of performers.”

Team Awesome, composed of local high school seniors Heather Evans and Gretchen McKenzie, is the first of the acts headlining the series. The two began performing nearly three years ago, Evans said.

“We started playing together in an orchestra quintet,” Evans said. “Now the music that we play is best described as acoustic alternative rock.”

Evans plays the acoustic guitar, while McKenzie dons the standup bass. The duo is occasionally accompanied by a drummer, but will be playing a strictly acoustic set for the inaugural Coffee House Series show.

“We’ve been to the Coffee House shows before and we’re really excited to play,” Evans said. “We usually do a pretty wide variety of covers, but our original stuff is harder to classify.”

Also performing on the same night is the Marquette-based Shadow Arcade, an indie pop group composed of local musicians Troy Graham and Breanne Kanak.

The event begins at 7 p.m. and will be held at the Peter White Lounge in the University Center.

The show is funded in part by grants from the National Endowment for the Arts and the Michigan Council for Arts and Cultural Affairs.

Admission is free and donations are encouraged.

For more information on the Beaumier Coffee House Series, call the Heritage Center at (906) 227-3212.