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You know that one that goes: ‘You can lead a horse to water, but you can’t make him drink’? Baloney. If the horse is thirsty it will drink.

What are the chances of our equine friend never having the need to drink? Non-existent, right? Is it quite likely it will have a drink pretty soon? Quite possibly.

So, the saying should read: ‘If you lead a horse to water it’s quite likely to drink in the not-too distant future.’ It’s not very catchy, but more accurate.

So let’s see how this works in the real world.

If someone stands over a creative person and demands art, chances are, he or she is not going to get very far. Right ambition, wrong approach.

The creative process is not easy to label, pigeonhole or categorise.  It requires a combination of inspiration and perspiration, to paraphrase another old saying. More importantly, perhaps, it also requires a connection, not only with an intended audience, but also with collaborators, contributors and critics.

That all sounds pretty complicated, but it’s quite simple really. A music producer may choose to work with musicians, engineers and instruments. The musicians may need a rehearsal space, management, even a tour agent. It’s quite possible that a photographer will put an online portfolio together featuring local people from the creative industries and a fashion designer may get involved with designing a range of merchandise.

Does that sound a little fanciful. Romantic even? ‘Here’s your nice little creative hub now go about your business creating stuff,  collaborating, networking, growing, flourishing…’

After all, these are hard time, right?

Then perhaps it’s worth considering that over 1500 creative and cultural businesses in Wales contribute £454 million to the UK economy.

That’s tidy.

Better still, many of these businesses and ideas start from a very low-cost base. That means purely in the grand scheme of things, there’s not a lot of risk involved.

The Swansea Creative hub has very simple ambitions. Create a space that’s minimal and flexible and allows for ease of communication. Put it in the heart of the city, make it accessible, interesting, open to all. Encourage people from all creative backgrounds to mix, merge and clash in equal measure. Then see what happens.

What have we got to lose?