Might be helpful to have a little direction to brainstorm around.
I agree that having a more specific theme would be a cool way to add some creative opportunity as well as a starting point for people who might not have an idea otherwise.
Also, if you wait to announce a theme until the jam starts, then it can help make sure that people are actually working on it during the jam (because you can't really build it all out ahead of time if you don't know the theme).