About 14,000 square feet of Lincoln Center's concrete plaza will be transformed into an expansive "lawn" to welcome New Yorkers to its cultural campus.

Designed by Mimi Lien, set designer (Natasha, Pierre, and the Great Comet of 1812) and MacArthur Genius, "The GREEN" will open on May 10th and be the heart of Lincoln Center's Restart Stages initiative to bring back performances and help revive the arts sector. The artificial lawn, surrounding the Revson Fountain in front of the Metropolitan Opera house, features swooping sides, seating areas, and a snack bar.

"When invited to consider how the physical space of Josie Robertson Plaza could be re-envisioned to be a more inclusive and inviting environment, I immediately thought that by changing the ground surface from hard paving stones with no seating to a material like grass, suddenly anyone would be able to sit anywhere," Lien said in a statement.

Rendering of The Green

Lien explained, "I wanted to make a place where you could lie on a grassy slope and read a book all afternoon. Get a coffee and sit in the sun. Bring your babies and frolic in the grass. Have a picnic lunch with co-workers. I hope that this curved grass surface will feel like an embrace and an expanse at the same time, and will reimagine the Plaza as a site of social infrastructure, like a town green – a place to gather, a common ground."

Besides the snack bar and pop-up performances, the New York Public Library for the Performing Arts will have books available for borrowing (the performing arts library is located on the Lincoln Center campus).

"The GREEN" will be on the Josie Robertson Plaza from May 10th through September 2021, open between 9 a.m. and midnight. Lincoln Center has safety protocols in place, including required face coverings and social distancing. They will also perform regular cleanings of the space.

Mayor Bill de Blasio helped kick off Restart Stages last week, with a special outdoor New York Philharmonic performance for healthcare workers. The mayor said, "This is one of the greatest cultural capitals of the world...arts and culture help us to make sense of the times we’re living in, and if we ever needed that in any point of our history, it’s now."