Pansodan Friday Journal is no more. Launched on July 19 last year, it flourished for a brief but exhilarating seven months, and appeared in its final issue on February 28 this year. Still, this was a significant cultural initiative, and it does have an afterlife.

The journal was born into a vibrant artistic and cultural context with no venue for reporting all that was going on. It aimed to capture and monitor the local scene, and to introduce that scene to locals and outsiders with little knowledge of it. On both counts it was a triumphant success.

Now, though, those objectives are being met through different outlets. A dedicated Facebook page provides immediate coverage of the Myanmar art world. A free monthly handout launched in March contains information about major artistic and cultural events. A quarterly journal to be launched in June will bring together much of this material, and also supplement art journalism with longer articles on curatorship.

Pansodan Friday Journal proved that a weekly art magazine could work in Myanmar, and built a platform for the activities now being rolled out. Its work is done.