How to scam city and state out of taxpayer's money

Create a non-profit organization with a general and vague mission statement.

Select a cause that is trending and focus on disadvantaged groups.
Create padlocks and promote them as big events so you can ask for donations.
Hire PR to sell your illusion.
Convince local and state governments to give you grants to help the disadvantaged.
Create government connections and hire former city officials.
Place some of your employers on various influential commissions, like the art commission.
State that you are doing residences to benefit artists, then charge both the artist and the government separately to cash in, twice while calling yourself non-profit.
Seek multiple grants, for each residence and each event.
Pay minimum wage to a group of employees and hire interns to churn out grant applications.

By now you have accumulated $15M-$16M of profit for your non-profit organization, but you are hungry for more. You now also have the political power behind you and can proceed to go after well-established private organizations to create a monopoly.

An organization that follows this list perfectly appears to be 18th Street Art Center.