Pittsburgh jumped to the nation's third best midsized arts city in a readers poll released today by American Style magazine.

Readers of the bimonthly arts and travel magazine rated it the 10th best arts city a year ago but moved it up seven spots partly due to excitement about next year's "Year of Glass," said American Style writer Christine Kloostra. As part of that effort, the Glass Art Society is having its yearly conference here in June 2007, which the magazine plans to cover.

"Next year is huge for glass in Pittsburgh. Anywhere that conference goes brings dozens of exhibitions with it. The Pittsburgh Glass Center has been instrumental in that and has really focused on it," Kloostra said.

Readers also showed interest in The Andy Warhol Museum and Carnegie Museum of Art, she said.

Buffalo won the top rating in cities with 100,000 to 499,000 residents, and Albuquerque finished second. Buffalo was hailed for its variety of arts venues, from the Hallwalls Contemporary Arts Center, housed in a renovated church owned by musician Ani DeFranco, to the upcoming Burchfield-Penney Art Center. Albuquerque benefited from a unique mix of cultural offerings.

Readers voted online and with paper ballots included in the Baltimore-based magazine's February issues. Buffalo received 18 percent of all votes, Albuquerque 7.5 percent and Pittsburgh 6 percent.

The magazine does not release vote totals, but Buffalo's huge lead probably means an effort was made to boost the city's ranking -- Kloostra said American Style does not mind such vote drives, because it shows cities are proud of their arts venues.

Among big American cities, the winners were New York, Chicago and Washington, D.C. In the small city category, the winners were Santa Fe, N.M.; Asheville, N.C.; and Corning, N.Y.

The rankings will be published in the June issue of the magazine, which hits newsstands next week and is available at most major bookstores.