Sounds great. School's out and it's good opportunity to work on a project. Lwaxana started something similar last year. You might find this useful for background.
Character Animation Challenge/Collaboration
collaboration?
Lwaxana acted as the representative for the project. He furnished the rig, established the rules, and updated the thread. I received the anme files, rendered them out, composited the clips, and hosted the final on youtube. Everyone who wanted to play just downloaded the file and animated it, and sent me a pm.
Overall, I think it turned out well, mainly because it actually completed. Most (volunteer) team project just fizzle out. The key is to keep it simple, make the rules clear, and have one person as the organizer.
Anyway, it sounds like you may have something different in mind, but this reminded of Lwaxana's project. I'll be watching this. Good luck!
PS. This probably belongs in the Share Your Work or Contest subforums.