Modelling and planning public cultural schedules for efficient use of resources

Abstract This paper addresses a decision making problem concerning the planning of cultural schedules. The model maximizes the overall welfare of the entire system by integrating the different parties involved in the process (artistic agents, sites and administration) in a unified setting. In order to solve the proposed model this paper also derives fast ad hoc heuristics and different Lagrangian relaxations that lead to good lower and upper bounds. These bounds are later used to obtain feasible solutions that improve the currently available lower bounds. All these elements are tested over a testbed of random instances to analyze their computational performance, showing promising results. In addition, we present one particular instance based upon actual data gathered in Andalusia (Spain). The results of this analysis draw interesting conclusions on how to improve the efficient use of public funds devoted to promote cultural activities.