visakhapatnam post bifurcation many believe that vizag will become the cultural capital of andhra pradesh most experts argue that vizag has already eclipsed hyderabad in terms of quality of cultural activity there are more than 65 folk arts in north coastal ap with vizag as the cultural epicentre a senior professor of andhra university said he truly believed that vizag is the cultural capital of ap though he did not want to be quoted he said vizag is cosmopolitan and yet retains a native and traditional flavour the general public are well read and well informed and many of the natives of the region who have settled abroad also maintain a strong link the unnamed professor has played a major role in the cultural scene of vizag since the 1950s considering the cultural scene in vizag gummuluri ram babu secretary kalabharathi observed there are enough connoisseurs and a huge pool of talent what we need is infrastructure we need a fullfledged dance and music school on the lines of those in vizianagaram rajahmundry and vijayawada apart from a number of mini auditoriums where performances can be held speaking about the visakha dance and music academy established by kalabharathi ram babu said unlike other dance and music schools such as those in vizianagaram and rajahmundry there is shortage of teachers here while vizianagaram college has 40 teachers for hundred students we have seven teachers for 600 plus students ram babu claimed that musicians have made vizag their base considering the number of performances held in the city bathini vikram goud director of nataraj institute of dance noted all the institutes that conduct national and international fests are based in vizag today there are more than 50 institutes in vizag while there are a little more than a hundred in the entire state he demanded that regional centres of the indian council for cultural relations sangeet natak academy and ccrt be established in vizag former mayor and patron of kalabharathi dv subba rao said vizag is without a doubt the cultural centre of ap not just dance and music but fine arts and literature have also flourished here and let us not forget the likes of raavi sastry sri sri and arudra who spearheaded the telugu literary movement keeping vizag as their base in the 60s and 70s