Voters at American Style magazine have named Pittsburgh the best arts destination in the country this year among mid-sized cities.

Excitement around the city is driven largely by glass-related events, such as the Dale Chihuly exhibition starting next month at Phipps Conservatory and Botanical Gardens, the Glass Art Society international conference in June and related events, according to publisher Wendy Rosen.

Pittsburgh also scored points among readers for The Andy Warhol Museum, the Carnegie Museum of Art and smaller private art galleries.

Voting was by American Style readers, either through mail or visits to the magazine's Web site. City boosters often do get-out-the-vote drives to drive up their numbers. (The magazine would not release vote totals.)

Pittsburgh was third in the magazine's voting last year, following Buffalo and Albuquerque.

This year, Albuquerque and Las Vegas placed second and third in the mid-sized category, defined as cities with 100,000 to 499,999 residents.

Among large cities, the top finishers this year were New York, Chicago and San Francisco.

The magazine hits newsstands Tuesday and is available online at www.americanstyle.com.

-- Tim McNulty,
Post-Gazette cultural arts writer