It's a wall-to-wall work of art: an 1,100 square-foot cafe painted with kaleidoscopic swirls and electric colors.

But on a recent afternoon, the massive, labor-intensive mural bore some extra elements: a scuffed floorboard here, a fingerprint there.

And that's OK, said artist Carlos Rolon, who goes by Dzine.

``The whole idea is that it's going to be touched somehow,'' he said. ``We wanted to create that kind of environment.''

Indeed, that's the idea behind much of the new programming put into place since Silvia Karman Cubiñá became executive director and chief curator at the Bass Museum of Art in Miami Beach, and five new members joined the seven-person board about a year ago.

With its new whimsical wall-painting, Cubiñá hopes to convince more people that art isn't scary or intimidating.

The cafe is temporarily closed while the museum looks for a vendor to operate the facility.

But while the cafe is not serving food for the time being, it still will serve as a gathering place during the museum's slate of community events.

``We're really focusing on finding what it is that the Bass Museum should do, who the Bass Museum should be as a community institution,'' she said.

Part of the answer lies in opening up the museum to social activities, museum board members say.

``It's for everybody, by everybody,'' said George Lindemann, who became board president last year. ``We are trying to get as many people involved as we possibly can.''

Already, the museum cafe has become a center for family fun, jazz music, candidates' forums and teen artists.

During the museum's monthly Family Days, the café fills with the smell of coffee and fresh popcorn, and the sounds of children's chatter. On sultry summer evenings, it served as the backdrop for jazz concerts that catered to an older crowd who sipped drinks from an open bar.

Eventually, Cubiñá hopes to make the café into a restaurant with outdoor seating.

``This is the beginning of a conversation,'' she said. ``And the conversation can't be a monologue. It's not the museum throwing things out. We're very interested in the feedback we get from projects like these.''

She's also taking a more literal approach to making the museum more accessible: Cubiñá plans on reorienting the entire museum to face Collins Avenue once the Collins Park project is slated to be complete in December 2010.

The greenway will span from the beach to the museum's doorstep, with lines of palm trees. Cubiñá and museum staff requested that landscaping planned for the park be scrapped, in favor of creating an open field where people can enjoy a picnic, concert or other community events.

It's all part of the plan to be ``more integrated into the city,'' she said.

There have been more subtle changes, too.

As staff scurried about the empty museum one recent afternoon, Cubiñá asked that a heavy blackout curtain from one of the museum's tall windows be removed.

``Let's say it's a moment of reopening and reawakening,'' she said.

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