CAPITAL PREPARES INAUGURATION : 3 DAYS OF FESTIVITIES TO EXPAND ON CLINTON'S BRIDGE-BUILDING THEME.

Byline: Alison Mitchell The New York Times

Call it a ``Renaissance Weekend'' for the entire nation.

For his second inauguration, President Clinton has no plans to repeat 1993's symbolism-laden bus tour into Washington from Thomas Jefferson's home of Monticello.

But the three-day celebration later this month will still feature the kind of activity Clinton has made his trademark: a free two-day tent show on the National Mall called ``An American Journey,'' where musicians will perform and celebrities, intellectuals and prominent personalities will conduct what are being described as ``empowerment dialogues'' with passers-by.

Inaugurations are the golden moment when a president tries to set the tone for the next four years, through ceremony, style and an inaugural address. In 1977, Jimmy Carter charmed the crowd with his informality: He walked from the swearing in at the Capitol to the White House. In 1981, Ronald Reagan brought back pomp and circumstance.

This time, the battalions of Clinton aides working on the 53rd inaugural speak very much as if they are still continuing the political campaign, unabashedly talking of the ``message and the theme'' of the weekend as Debbie Willhite, the co-executive director, did at a news conference Friday.

In fact, the message and theme will sound very familiar to those who listened to Clinton's talk last year of a ``bridge to the 21st century'' and his projection of himself as the candidate of children and the techno-future.

Among the seven heated tent pavilions that will be open to the public on Jan. 18 and 19 will be a ``Millennium Schoolhouse,'' featuring performers known for their appeal to children, and a separate ``Technology Playground.'' That will include a ``virtual bridge to the future,'' which will allow people across the country to send computer messages to President Clinton, Vice President Gore and their families.

The messages are to be displayed on a giant screen, with a three-dimensional background. Whether there will be anyone on the other end of the computer keyboard, however, has not yet been determined. Ann Dibble Jordan, a co-chairwoman of the inaugural committee, said the group had not yet talked to the first and second families about how they would respond but promised, ``We will make sure that these children will get some response.''

The mall will also feature two food pavilions, two music pavilions, where jazz, country, gospel and folk music will be performed, and an ``American Journey tent'' for story-telling, lectures and dialogues.

Originally, the speakers were billed as big thinkers. But the planners, perhaps realizing that not everyone shares Clinton's passion for intellectualizing, are now searching as well for celebrity personalities along the lines of sports figures, entertainers or Ann Landers.

Officials, who are bracing for mall crowds of up to 400,000, say the kinds of topics envisioned are discussions on parenting, diversity, the role of civil rights, high-technology ethics and ``personal empowerment.''

Lest that sound too uncelebratory, there are always the 14 black-tie inaugural balls and the Sunday night celebrity gala at the USAir Arena in suburban Maryland. But these are for invited guests only, culled from a list of 50,000 Clinton supporters and active Democrats from around the nation.

The gala will feature the Broadway casts of ``Chicago'' and ``Bring in 'Da Noise Bring in 'Da Funk'' and a range of performers including Whoopi Goldberg, Michael Douglas, Kenny Rogers, Stevie Wonder, Tricia Yearwood, Yo Yo Ma and Bernadette Peters. The ticket prices range from $100 to $3,000. (Some people will be able to obtain tickets for a dress rehearsal Saturday by donating food for distribution to the homeless.)

The official inaugural takes place at noon on Jan. 20, when Clinton takes the 35-word oath of office. Miller Williams, a poet from Arkansas, is to read a poem.

Clinton will deliver his second inaugural address, one in which he is expected to further describe his vision of governing from the ``vital center'' after an election in which voters sent a decidedly mixed message, electing him by just short of a majority and sending back a Republican Congress.

Four years ago, Clinton used this address to recall Thomas Jefferson's belief ``that to preserve the very foundations of our nation we need dramatic change from time time,'' and he also said: ``This is our time. Let us embrace it.''

But he was chastened by the failure of his proposed overhaul of the health care system and the election of a Republican Congress in 1994. He won re-election in 1996 by offering small-scale proposals based around family and children issues and simple exhortation on matters like school uniforms and educational standards.

Clinton has said he considers this inaugural more important than the last one and has promised a longer speech than the 15-minute oration of four years ago.

Historians say it is his chance to set the tone for his next four years.

``Here is a very good opportunity for him to build up capital that will help him in a second term,'' said Michael R. Beschloss, a historian of the presidency. ``One way to do that is to make a speech that takes some risks and that is remembered.''

Clinton has higher hurdles to jump this time around when he is far better known to the nation and the Democrats are no longer as ecstatic as in 1993, when they took the White House after a 12-year drought.

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Photo: Crews erect the presidential viewing stand in front of the White House where President Clinton will watch the parade after taking his oath.

Associated Press